


::Return

by DisrepairHouse (KittenFuzz)



Series: Disrepair House [4]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Apocalypse, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dimension Travel, Found Family, Gen, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parental Abuse, Robots, Rockman X6 | Mega Man X6, Sonic Forces, Tragedy, worlds collide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 117,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24049531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittenFuzz/pseuds/DisrepairHouse
Summary: G.U.N. has fallen.The Freedom Fighters have fallen.Even Sonic is barely keeping it together.It’s been eight years since Solaris’ return, and with him, the future Itara hoped to prevent.  The world is on the verge of total destruction amidst three risen Gods.  But as the sign Itara’s been searching for finally appears, the Disrepair House joins what remains of Sonic’s group to hunt down the answer to the rampaging Gods.  A time traveler hoping to save her world, and a displaced robot looking to return to his.  The story of the Disrepair House comes to a close with the final arc.
Series: Disrepair House [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/931593
Kudos: 3





	1. Emergence

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo-boy, ya'll.
> 
> This is it. We've finally reached it. The end of the Disrepair House series. Arc Three. The final arc.
> 
> I'm excited and terrified to finally see this posted.

Metal clanged and screeched as the steel barrier attempted to open for the first time in several years, fighting against the heavy wear and tear. Plating cracked as the massive structure jerked and stuck; the mechanisms pulled against the deep dents on the iron walls and gave in with an ear-shattering _crack_. Scorched earth fell away from the outer edges, revealing the damaged and clanking mechanics of the battered base while the house inside filled with an angry red glow – the first natural light the residents had seen in eight years.

“What happened?”

A tall, slim blue hedgehog with glowing red eyes and long, white-striped quills pulled back into a low ponytail crossed from one side of the darkened basement lab to the other. The only light in the room came from the giant computer screen, one of the few that remained intact on the long wall of scratched and worn computer screens. A desk stretched across the wall underneath with two sets of keyboards: One built into the desk that had long since stopped working and another that had been salvaged and hooked up to replace the first. A bright red error flashed across the working screen, glinting off the silvery metallic right arm of the red-eyed hedgehog as he reached the two other figures that stood beside the desk.

He scanned the error screens and opened dialogue boxes across the monitor before his gaze returned to the other two, one of whom had moved to the keyboard to try and fix the problem. The smaller of the two, who barely reached the hip of the other, was a burgundy hedgehog with teal streaks down her spines and large, wild, purple and green eyes that looked up at him when he approached. The red echidna beside her not only dwarfed her in height, but the red-eyed hedgehog in build. His one good eye glowed green against the emergency reds of the computer while a simple black eyepatch covered the other. Two long, metal claws protruded from the back of his right hand, leaving several indents and scratches on the table as he fought the malfunctioning system, the keyboard fairing no better against the hook attached to the opposite hand. He gave a grunt of a reply and continued poring through the defense system’s error codes to find the answer the hedgehog was seeking.

With another set of footsteps on the stairs behind them, the echidna sighed in frustration and turned to the others to address the issue, “The shield is too damaged. The mechanisms can’t open it on their own anymore. We may have to force them open ourselves.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, should it?” the blue hedgehog questioned, raising an eyebrow as he scanned the four bodies around the room, “I think between the three of us, we should be able to manage.”

“It’s not getting it open that’s going to be the problem,” the echidna sighed, “it’s getting it closed again afterwards. I’m going to have to see how bad the damage actually is, but if we break it further, we’ll be without any defenses.”

The approaching figure stepped into the light of the screens, revealing a yet taller, more humanoid figure with long, blonde hair, sharp blue eyes, and a sword hilt strapped to his back. Though his overall shape was more human than the others, his body was covered in thick red and white robotic armor, from his torso, to his arms, to his legs. On his head, he wore a sharp, though scuffed and dented, red and white helmet. He had several inches on the echidna, dwarfing the small girl beside them further.

“So how do we fix it?” his voice was sharp and curt, a trait the household had gotten used to over the years yet the anxiety was still plain as day.

“Manually, likely,” the echidna explained, grabbing a thick bag of tools near the stairs as the others followed after. The smallest of the four stayed behind to examine the computers, watching with silent apprehension. It had been the most activity the household had seen in a great many years. Once the other members quieted down and accepted the state of the ruined world, it grew quiet and mostly uneventful. She was correct so far about the base being safe and the iron shield holding up despite the destruction outside, though it clearly took a number of heavy hits that took their toll. Their supplies also held out, as she said they would. All in all, they were likely the safest and most well-prepared the world over for the destruction that came eight years ago. How lucky, for them, to know a time traveler.

But now it was finally time to open up again. The answer to their problem was near and they could hide no longer. They were as ecstatic as they were wary. They couldn’t run off after the source right away, they needed to track down another surviving group first, but at least her powers made them easier to find. Though, none of them were overly pleased at having to face the occupants of the other group, especially after so long. It would be no easy conversation, but it was a necessary step to saving the world.

First, though, they needed to be able to get out of their own protected base.

* * *

It had been eight years since the Ancient Gods reawakened and wreaked havoc on the world. What started with roaming monsters across Soleanna, turned to drowned coastlines, ravaging fires, and craters the size of cities opening across the world. Chaos was the first to rise, consuming all seven of the Chaos Emeralds to destroy Station Square once more. Dark Gaia was next, flattening Spagonia with earthquakes for weeks before finally opening a hole to the middle of the earth and swallowing it whole. The final God, the most destructive of them all, was Solaris. Soleanna fell to the fires first, but the rest of the world wasn’t far behind. The fires consumed everything: the land, the seas, even the sky. The air grew hot and dry and day and night ceased to exist. Mobians and humans, alike, fought back however they could. G.U.N. organized. The Freedom Fighters rose once again. Sonic was everywhere and nowhere.

But none of it mattered.

G.U.N. fell.

The Freedom Fighters were reduced to scraps.

With the world in-between, the Gods clashed and Crisis City returned.

Several miles east of what was once Soleanna, in one of the last remaining safe zones, a group of survivor mobians were gathering in a panel room. A barely functioning computer console sat in the center of the room, blinking lazily with several broken screens, an exhausted, heavily bandaged fox stood above it, fighting against the damaged keys to bring up a map of the area. Around the edges of the room, several small groups stood about, tending to wounds, mumbling quietly to themselves, watching the computer in tired desperation, or simply resting and waiting. A white bat fought with a black and red hedgehog about bandaging a gash on his arm. A red echidna stood near the fox, bouncing from foot to foot with obvious irritation but remained silent to let him work. A pink hedgehog sat near the wall going through a medical supply box to take inventory with a purple chameleon, though their supplies were running thin.

The room was silent besides the heavy clacking of the console’s buttons, the echidna’s shoes against the concrete floor, and the quiet argument at the back of the room. Several pairs of ears turned towards the door, however, as a whirlwind of clanking and boisterous chatter filled the hallway outside. The heavy steel door slid back with a noisy clatter, revealing the banged up blue hedgehog with a forced grin and a bulky black and red robot following closely behind. The others quickly dropped what they were doing as the two appeared with sighs of relief and concern.

“Sonic! Thank goodness you’re back,” the fox sighed, jumping from the console to join his friend’s side. The robot crossed the room in silence to join the bat and black hedgehog.

“Told ya I would be, buddy,” Sonic grinned, though the usual levels of cocksure certainty had diminished over the years and even the hero hedgehog appeared tired and ready to fall apart, for those who looked close enough. He did his best to hide it, to remain optimistic as he’d always been, but it became increasingly difficult even for him as the world around them fell to ruin and nothing they did could stop it.

“Omega, sweety, we’re glad to see you back in one piece,” the bat smiled up at the towering robot, “how are things looking out there?”

“Outlook negative,” the bot responded, gaining him several wary looks from around the room, though they turned back to Sonic once they caught sight of the scowl on the black hedgehog’s face. He already looked ready to fight, no one wanted to push their luck today.

“It’s not as bad as all that,” Sonic reassured them, though quietly. He looked up towards the map that was projected on the wall-sized screen, “there are some… _slightly_ less desecrated sections of land over here,” he explained, pointing south of their location, “the monsters are thinner but…” He trailed off and the echidna stepped up to nudge him on. “There’s a crater beside it about the size of a Gaia hole. It’s… possible it’s one of his retreats.”

Silence filled the room again until the black hedgehog finally stood and approached the console. “I’ve had about enough of this running and hiding. We ought to focus on one of these Gods to take out first and go through them one by one. If we take care of Chaos first, we can get the emeralds back. It’ll be easy from there,” he growled, his temper boiling as the others moved well out of his way on his path to the blue hedgehog.

“Shadow, we’ve talked about this,” Tails sighed, though was quickly interrupted.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but for once I’m agreeing with Shadow,” Knuckles huffed, though twisted his face up in displeasure afterwards, “I’m tired of this. We haven’t gotten anywhere with anything else, maybe it’s time we just take them head-on.”

“We tried that, remember? You nearly got snapped in half by Gaia, and Chaos almost drowned Sonic,” Tails huffed in annoyance.

“Yeah but…”

“C’mon, Tails, we could try again. Surely, they’ve gotta be getting tired, fighting each other this long. We tried when they first showed up, maybe if we tried again,” Sonic nearly pleaded, the desperation more prevalent with every word. Even he was at his wit’s end and wanted an answer. He’d always found an answer, no matter how dire the situation. The guilt of doing nothing to help for so long was becoming too much to bear.

Tails sighed again, but remained silent as he turned away from his friend’s pleading eyes. He didn’t know how to respond. It was dangerous and they still had so little information. Not to mention, they weren’t at their strongest anymore, either. Everyone was injured and exhausted, fighting every day to find the solution to the rampaging Gods, their only rewards being more injuries every time. But what else could they do? There didn’t seem to be an end in sight and they were getting nowhere. Maybe they should give it one last, good fight.

However, as the room silently debated what course of action was best, a notification popped up on the gadget around Tails’ wrist, informing him of a presence outside the base. He pulled the screen up to find out who, or what, it was, secretly grateful for the distraction, brief as it likely was. There were no other bases that had survived near them. They’d either been smoked out, buried, or destroyed, so the motion sensor was more than likely picking up another monster. However, once the camera feed cleared enough for him to make out what it was, his brows furrowed. It wasn’t monsters. It was three mobians, one of which looked to be a small child. He showed Sonic the video feed when he approached and even Sonic looked surprised to see living people again.

“I didn’t see anyone at all on my way back,” but he shook his head and jumped for the door, “let’s get them in here before any monsters show up!”

“Hold up,” Shadow growled, grabbing the speedster on his way out, “how do we know they’re safe to let in here? If you didn’t see them, where did they come from?”

“C’mon, Shads, this isn’t the time for suspicion.” Shadow scowled at the nickname, for likely the umpteenth time. “They’ve got a kid with them.” Sonic wriggled free and darted for the door, gone before anyone else could argue further. Shadow growled again and stiffened into a defensive posture, knowing Sonic would do as he pleased, as he always had. If the strangers tried to attack once inside, at least they wouldn’t get far. The room had no shortage of fighters available, it’d be three on eight and one of them was a child.

The others waited on bated breath for Sonic’s return, curious but wary about the strangers, for a variety of reasons. Their concern was anything but relieved as Sonic returned with a look of obvious discomfort, leading the three back to the console room. He said nothing, but his eyes darted back and forth between the group and the room, almost seeming to keep from ever turning his back fully to them. Tails gave him a questioning look, but turned his attention back to the three new arrivals.

The group was led by the small child he’d seen on the screen. Even for a young mobian, she was small and thin, with dark burgundy fur striped in teal, oddly similar in pattern to Shadow. She wore a short, tattered purple dress with scuffed up tennis shoes and her wild spines barely contained in pigtails. Despite her size, she looked strangely confident and calm and her enormous green and purple eyes blinked with an unreadable, deadpan stare. She briefly scanned the room as she entered, her expression hitched ever so slightly when her gaze fell over Shadow, but quickly moved on and returned to the calm stare.

But it wasn’t the strange girl that put the rest of the room on edge. It was her companions, one of which being the obvious source of discomfort for Sonic. The two ‘mobians’ that followed close behind the little girl entered, one after the other, both studying the room and others present in silence. The one closest to the little girl was a tall, fluffy red echidna with one glowing, green eye, the whites of his eyes a shiny black. He wore loose and torn black pants, tall black boots, a blank tank top, and a torn grey jacket. He remained closest to the small child, almost protectively so, and kept the sharpest eye on the others, though his gaze seemed to all but avoid Knuckles.

However, while the other two no one was entirely certain of their identity, the third ‘stranger’ was no stranger at all. The tall blue hedgehog with one metallic arm and bright red eyes was recognized immediately by everyone present and garnered exactly the defensive reactions that would be expected from Metal Sonic waltzing into the room. He acknowledged the recognition by grinning and crossing his arms, though remained equally silent. Sonic inched further away from the group while Tails watched them closely and Knuckles stared the other echidna down with heavy suspicion.

Shadow was the first to break the tense silence, “Metal Sonic, so you’ve survived this long.”

“Of course. You think even ancient gods can defeat me?” Metal grinned, which got a side-eyed glance from the small child.

“So why are you here, Metal?” Sonic challenged, though continued to keep his distance.

“Well, obviously to-,” though he was cut off shortly by the small child stepping forward and interrupting.

“We’re here to help,” she stated quickly, though her expression didn’t change much. The room fell to uncomfortable silence once more as attention moved to the tiny, apparently very brave little girl. She glanced around a moment, though avoided Shadow this time around, and turned back to Sonic and Tails, “well, perhaps ‘stop you from doing something stupid’ is a more accurate description.” Her dead stare turned dark as she centered on Sonic, “Do _not_ fight the Gods. Not yet. You’ll lose and everyone involved will die.”

Sonic’s expression twisted to confusion, but before the conversation could go any further, realization struck Knuckles as he glared wildly over at the other echidna, “You’re Metal Knuckles, aren’t you?!”

Once again, attention was brought back to the robots as RK resisted his own smirk. “I am, though I’ll be honest, you’re one of only two people who have realized in a few hundred years.” Mumbles and whispers broke out around the room. The already on-edge mobians only further bristled at the realization that they let two of the most dangerous of Robotnik’s creations waltz into their safe zone. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and even Amy and Espio dropped what they were doing to go on the defensive. The only one who didn’t make further commotion, ironically, was Shadow, who only stared the three down.

The others debated what to do and how to respond, every suggestion from ‘two on eight’ to ‘maybe they aren’t here to fight’ echoed around the increasingly panicked meeting room. But once again, it was Shadow who finally broke the atmosphere as he turned to the small, sighing child that apparently led the two robots. “So, we’ve got Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles, walking into the middle of our base, outnumbered and mostly unresponsive. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re no mere child, either. There’s trouble written all over your face and I suggest you come clean immediately.”

His threat silenced the others and drew attention from the small girl who had been otherwise avoiding eye contact with him. Sonic frowned at the insinuation and offered a small, “c’mon, Shadow, she’s just a kid…”

Shadow scowled at him, barely missing the brief distracted look on the girls’ face, before she shook her head rather quickly and spoke up again, “No, he’s right. I’m no child. In fact, I’d hazard a guess… you may even know me, Shadow.” Her voice remained calm, but there was a small hint of unease in her claim. The black hedgehog turned back to study her closely, though the sharp gaze of the notoriously violent being put RK on edge enough to inch closer to her, just in case. When Shadow said nothing, however, she smiled and explained, “you saved me from one of Gaia’s Nightmares before all this started. On the rooftop of my school. Remember?”

Shadow’s brows furrowed in confusion, giving a brief rest to his dangerous scowl, but the small girl only sighed and continued, “though, that was the last of many interactions we’ve had. Through many timelines. Solaris is active again and I thought, of anyone, you’d be the most likely to remember. Normally I wouldn’t put this so bluntly, I used to work more… _subtly_ , but this is an emergency situation, we should get right to the point.” Without further explanation, the purple and green in the girl’s eyes swapped and the whites became a molten red as her quills shifted and rose, crystals consuming every inch of her fur as her muzzle greyed out.

Confusion and gasps filled the room and Shadow took an immediate step back. His eyes swam with vague memories rushing back, nearly splitting his head as he reached up to grab hold of it. Rouge moved beside him, casting the strange girl sideways glances. Finally, Shadow seemed to remember what she wanted as a name slipped through the tense air:

“ _Mephiles_.”

The girl nodded and explained, “Thought so.” The crystals retracted, but the girl’s eyes remained the same, “We’ve never formally met, though, so let me introduce myself for the first time in several timelines. My name is Itara, I was originally created in one of Robotnik’s labs from a separated part of Mephiles’ power, put into the body of a mobian child. I was created just before you and Rouge stole that scepter, the day Mephiles was released. I wandered the world for two-hundred years in the original Crisis City timeline before he taught me to use my powers and I spent the next several timelines assisting him in releasing Iblis so they could become Solaris again. But my mobian vessel was also killed that day and my shard of power returned to him. After the battle, he gave me a body of my own again and I’ve been living, without my powers, without him, since.

“Also, now that you’re aware of my identity,” her deadpan stare finally broke into a scowl, “I didn’t much appreciate you laughing at me that day on the roof! That was the second time I tripped that day and I had half a mind to tell you how stupid you were for not knowing who I was!” Shadow narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but said nothing as her expression calmed again, “But I couldn’t. Because I didn’t even have my powers at the time. I wasn’t scared of the Nightmare, that day, I was worried that _you_ would recognize me and I was relieved when you didn’t.”

Shadow scoffed and crossed his arms, but Tails spoke up first, “Wait, so you’re… _part_ of Solaris?”

Itara nodded, “I’m sure you don’t believe me but,” she turned back to Shadow, “ _you_ remember me now, _don’t you?_ ”

“If what you say is true,” Shadow growled, having regained his composure much quicker than even she expected, “then destroying you will be a start to my plan, the easiest of the three.”

RK moved between them at the threat, though she showed no hint of concern, despite knowing better than most that Shadow wasn’t one for empty threats. “Destroying me would only give my tiny shard of his power back to him. It would, in fact, do the opposite of what you hope,” she explained. Admittedly, she knew her father gave her a body again for a reason and that he very much wanted her alive, but she wasn’t about to offer that information so freely.

“Why are you here, then?” Sonic questioned, stepping up to try and keep Shadow down.

“As I said, we’re here to help. You may not believe me right away, but I don’t want what my father wants anymore. I helped him once and died for it. I have no doubt he’ll do the same thing once the threats are dealt with,” she turned back to Shadow again and scowled, “which is why you can’t attack the Gods outright. You take one of them out of the equation, it’ll only make the other two worse. Their ongoing battle is the only thing keeping the timelines intact, we need their focus to remain on each other for the time being.”

“Why would we ever believe the likes of you?” Shadow hissed, despite Sonic’s attempts to make him back down. “You’re part of Mephiles, you helped him destroy the world once before, you walked in here with two of Robotnik’s most powerful robots.”

“And _you_ nearly destroyed the world for Black Doom,” Itara countered, getting a moment of shocked silence from the group, “We’ve both got pasts we’re not overly fond of.”

“Also, I’ll have you know neither of us work for Robotnik any longer,” Metal Sonic snapped, “and neither is the tiny child working for that manipulative Sun God. We’re all on our own these days and as much as I loathe the lot of you, it’s going to require more power than the three of us have to defeat the Gods. Why else would _I_ come and not immediately eradicate the faker?”

Sonic’s scowl returned while Shadow’s shifted into bitter consideration. Before anyone else had the opportunity to interject, Itara stepped out from behind RK and spoke up again, “Listen, let me explain in full,” her eyes returned to their normal colors and she motioned towards the map projected on the far wall, “Believe us or not, right now is a crucial point of the battle and if we don’t _all_ move carefully, all really will be lost for good. Since Solaris’ return, I’ve had access to my powers again and I’ve been keeping an eye on the timelines. For the past eight years, it’s been an unwinnable battle, which is why we’ve been in lockdown in the meantime. But there’s a change. Something is happening, to the timelines, to the energy of the universe, itself. If I can _find_ the source of that energy, I think it’ll lead me to the end of this battle. I can’t say for sure what it is yet, but something in the near future is going to upset the balance of Chaos Energy. I suspect, those closest to it like Shadow and Sonic, have already felt the effects.”

She glanced between the two and nodded in confirmation when they both avoided her gaze, then continued, “and like Sparky said, we don’t have enough power to find it on our own. Why else would we literally walk into the lion’s den like this? As strong as Sparky and RK are, it’d be eight on three and my powers are extremely limited and not meant for direct fights. As battered as you all are, it’d still be a losing battle if we started anything. We’re not here to fight, despite Sparky’s highest hopes,” she shot the blue bot a sideways glare, “we just want to help save the world. For once. It’s down to just us. So please… help me save the only family I’ve ever truly had.”


	2. Robot Wrangler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic and crew are introduced to the rest of the Disrepair House residents before moving on to discuss plans regarding how to move forward.

“Itara! There you are!”

The tiny hedgehog winced as a taller, teal hedgehog with long spines pulled back into a ponytail rushed over as they arrived and swept her up into a hug. “S-Sorry, Mira, there was a lot to talk about,” she mumbled into his shoulder as he looked up at the robots that followed behind her… as well as the entourage behind them. In addition to the two robots she’d left the house with several hours ago, Sonic, Shadow, and Tails had followed them back to the now - mostly - exposed neighborhood house. He backed up to let them pass through the doorway where the rest of the home’s residents were all waiting and watching in silent trepidation.

Just inside the door, lounging on the worn living room couch was an elderly fox, his fur mostly grey with only thin spots of the deep red from ages gone. He watched the group with relaxed but curious pale blue eyes as they made their way in. The young human boy that sat beside him, however, seemed to bounce to life the second the door opened. He was pale, with curly brown hair that reached just past his shoulders pulled into a short ponytail, and wide, hazel eyes and looked to be around fourteen. Behind them, beyond a half-wall separating the living and dining rooms, two others sat at a scratched and scuffed wooden dining table. One was a hedgehog woman with deep burgundy and light brown fur, her spines poked about wildly in a similar fashion to Itara’s, wearing torn up jeans and a tank top. She sat up straight from where she’d been hunched over the table with a wide, hopeful grin spread across her face at the sight of the newcomers. The other woman, a middle-aged human with long, dirty-blonde hair pulled back into a tight braid, turned a cautious gaze towards the door.

As the arriving group filed into the increasingly cramped living room, the three newcomers looked around at the others in varying degrees of shock and confusion. RK continued to the basement lab door, glancing back as he opened it, “This way. Mira, if you would join us as well.” The teal hedgehog nodded and followed quickly after.

Sonic, however, looked on in baffled confusion at the collection of humans and mobians, as well as the house, itself. With the others filed down to the basement, he stopped them short with a sudden whistle of impress, “I never expected a Robotnik base to look so homey! And here I thought all he had were death bots and cells. I’m insulted.”

Tails shot him a narrow-eyed, questioning gaze while the teen on the couch grinned up at him, “I’m so glad you’re still alive, Sonic!” The blue hedgehog grinned and, almost as if filled with years of missing energy, gave a wink and thumbs up.

“You bet I am!”

“Shut up, Simon, I told you that already!” came Itara’s frustrated yell from beyond the door, getting a grin from both the hero hedgehog and the teen boy, “get down here already!” Sonic shrugged and continued down, never quite losing his grin.

Once the group moved from the crowded living room down to the airier and darker lab, their final housemate for the past eight years turned away from the screens, crossing his arms and waiting for them to approach. The tall red robot towered over the mobians – by a couple feet for the organics but only a foot or so for the robots – but said nothing until the group had collected and were within earshot. Of course, the newcomers sized the blonde-haired humanoid up immediately, but it was Sonic who spoke first.

“I recognize you. You were working for Robotnik, too, weren’t you?” With an insulted huff, he looked around at his varied company and whined, “Are Tails and I the only ones here who have never worked for Egghead?!”

“Excuse you, I would never!” Mira hissed, getting a curious look from the blue hedgehog.

“Neither have I,” Itara piped up, climbing down from Mira’s arms, “Mephiles, yes. But not Robotnik. In fact, I’m the one who stole RK from him. Though, RK picked up _that_ hunk-a-junk while I was away,” she pointed to Metal Sonic, who scowled as he crossed to the computer.

“Don’t you start with me, little girl,” he threatened, though the usual warning glance from RK dissuaded whatever threat was to come next. Itara grinned, but moved quickly out of the bot’s reach.

“None of this is important,” the humanoid robot snapped and gestured towards the screens, “we’ve had readings on the anomaly.” Though, with a quick glance at Itara, added, “the _other_ anomaly.”

Itara glared, but the attempt at a lightened mood returned to the previous tenseness as the group looked up at the radar and list of readings beside it. A number of critical errors were strung across the dialogue box, prompting RK to cross to the computer and Itara to return to the conversation at hand. She walked over to the computer desk with RK and grabbed a small, scratched up and bent black notebook, returning to the group as she flipped through the pages.

“Then we should get to the point here. This is a journal I’ve been keeping to track the varying timelines and the effects of different actions. I’m able to check notes on the future without having to extend excessive energy this way. See this giant splotch across the pages here?” She held the book up. The entirety of the two pages were jet black from edge to edge, even within the creases. She flipped the page back to show that the two before it were filled with notes and then forward to show the ones after were blank. “This has only happened once before: when Solaris formed and the timeline was reset for the final time. Obviously, that can’t be the case this time since Solaris is already whole, but I _do_ believe it’s related to these fluctuations we’ve been tracking. I believe this is the day we find the source of the power and the solution to the battling Gods. I can’t say for a hundred percent sure what _it is_ , but I’ve got some theories.”

“So why are we necessary then?” Shadow questioned.

“Well, for the most part I just need you idiots not to get yourselves killed. You and Sonic, especially, depending on what we find, we may need someone more attuned to Chaos’ energy. I’m not enough on my own and while Sparky and RK are capable of using the Chaos Emeralds to a degree, we don’t exactly have them.” She looked up at Shadow, specifically, and stated, “All I know for a fact is that you were crucial to defeating Solaris the first time and we’ll likely need your power to stop them again.”

“Him? Where was I?” Sonic questioned with all his refueled cockiness.

Itara glanced over at him, her face twisting into an awkward wince before turning away again. “I don’t think you want to know,” she muttered before returning to the computer with RK. Sonic’s grin disappeared almost immediately.

Before he could speculate for too long however, Metal piped up, stealing the grin his organic counterpart lost. “From what I heard, you _died_.”

Sonic scowled at him but Itara sighed in exasperation, though decided to have fun with it since he insisted on bringing it up. “Yeah, and you were awful upset about it, if I remember right, Sparky.” The blue bot lost the grin, which passed over to the tiny time traveler half hidden against the leg of the large red echidna, who only rolled his eyes.

“Aw, you were worried about me, you old bucket of bolts?” Sonic teased, though danced around Shadow to put him between them once the bot’s glare turned on him. “I knew you couldn’t live without me.”

“As if,” Metal hissed, “I was simply pissed _I_ wasn’t the one to kill you. And I told the little nuisance as much.”

“Call it what you want, Metal, you were still upset,” Itara laughed.

“Can we get back on track?” Zero sighed, reaching up to rub the bridge of his nose. He was growing ever tired of this world’s nonsense. “You’re all irritating.”

Attention turned to the much taller, stranger bot again as the three newcomers studied him curiously. “Who even _are_ you?” Sonic questioned, “You’re not one of Egghead’s, that’s for sure.”

“No, he’s not from our world at all,” Itara explained in Zero’s place, “the only reason he was working for Robotnik before was because Robotnik found him first and repaired him. He’s helping us now only to get home.”

“He’s from a different world entirely?” Tails spoke up for the first time since leaving the other base, stepping forward to study the other bot, though making sure to stay out of his personal space. The sharp blue eyes said everything he needed to know about the robot’s interest in others. “Is it possible that has something to do with this anomaly?”

“Actually, that’s exactly what I think it may be,” Itara nodded, “I don’t know if his coming here _caused_ what’s happening or if it was simply an effect of it, but there’s got to be a connection between them. I’m guessing, if I find the way back to his world, I’ll find the solution to our problems, as well.”

“And if it’s entirely unrelated and you’re simply chasing dead ends?” Shadow countered.

Itara’s ears flattened as her face fell. Silence followed for several minutes as they debated the possibility but eventually, she shook her head violently and strengthened her assertion, “No. I’m _sure_ this is the answer. It has to be.”

“Awful optimistic.”

“C’mon, Shads, we could use a little optimism right now,” Sonic shrugged, getting another scowl from the black hedgehog for the nickname but ignored it to ask, “So what do we need to do?”

Itara’s ears perked and her eyes lit up again as she met his enthusiasm, “We have to find the source of the readings.”

“Great. Let’s start there, then!”

The conversation continued as they went through every possible location and reason behind the anomaly. Itara and Zero caught Sonic and Tails up on what they’d managed to collect over the years about the readings, while Sonic and Tails informed them of what they’d learned whilst surviving out and around the monsters and Gods. Shadow mostly remained off to the side, silent and listening as always, and Metal kept a silent, sharp eye on Sonic. RK interjected what he could through the conversation, but mostly kept his eye on the computers, since there was still a huge amount of data that needed to be evaluated. Mira, who had remained silent and listening throughout most the conversations, offered his assistance in running data and helping Tails repair his computers. He couldn’t offer much in the way of Gods and other worlds, but he could at least do technology.

A couple hours into the extensive theorizing and planning, the hedgehog woman that had been in the dining room earlier came down calling for Mira and Itara, putting a pause to the discussion. “Hey, we’ve got food made if you’re getting hungry being little super geniuses down here,” she called from halfway down the steps, amusement at her own joke resting plainly on her face as she scanned the room.

“We’ll be up in a moment, Kelly,” Mira turned back to respond.

She gave a quick thumbs up and returned upstairs, getting several strange looks from around the room. Mira all but ignored it and turned to Itara, “Come on, up with you, go eat. We can finish this afterwards.”

Itara frowned and looked between Mira and Tails. She didn’t want to halt their progress, “Can’t I just bring it down here? The sooner we get this-.”

“No. Come on.”

“But Mira-!”

Before she could argue further, RK stood and picked the tiny child up, “You haven’t eaten anything all day, go.” He walked her over to the stairs and set her down on them, “Get.” Mira followed after with a slight smirk.

Itara, however, sighed in exasperation and trudged up the stairs, whining, “Fine. But I’m coming right down after! We have work to do!”

“Work can continue while you eat,” RK stated while Mira nudged her the rest of the way up the stairs, though added a final, “And you better actually eat. Don’t expect a snack later just because you didn’t eat enough at dinner!” Itara whined reluctant agreements before the door closed and RK returned to his seat at the computer.

Once they were gone, the stares that had followed the two up turned to RK with questioning gazes. Zero attempted to continue his conversation with Tails once the interruption was done but Sonic’s attention was still set on the robots. He watched RK with suspicion until Metal took notice and rolled his eyes. “You’ve got a rat’s attention, Momma Bear,” Metal chided, getting a side-eyed glance from RK.

“Momma Bear?” Sonic half laughed, half scoffed, no less wary of the robots that had been built solely to kill him and his teammates. RK glanced back at Sonic to meet his gaze but returned to the computer. He’d gotten used to the title and the strange looks it got him long ago, though the residents of their house didn’t know Metal Sonic hadn’t been the one to originally coin the nickname. “Didn’t know killer robots had protective sides,” Sonic poked again.

Zero gave up on his attempt to get back to the point and looked between the ‘killer robots’ in question before returning his gaze to Sonic and Tails. So it was strange behavior after all. “They seem to be oddly protective of the time traveler. I thought it was just the robots of this world.” Though his comment garnered an unexpected result as Sonic looked to Metal, who scoffed and looked away.

“ _They_?” the hedgehog pushed, his shock showing ever so blatantly on his face.

“Yes, both of them seem very attached,” Zero confirmed and glanced back to see the scowl on Metal’s face, “Though one shows it more blatantly than the other.”

Sonic burst into a fit of laughter, nearly tumbling over at the mere idea, which gained both him and Zero a death glare from the angry blue bot. “No one asked you, ponytail! I don’t care about the time traveler!”

“Sure, Metal,” RK muttered, the amusement touching his tone ever so slightly.

“I… she just…!” Metal stammered, though realized none of his previous defenses held well in the current situation. Sonic didn’t much help as he continued laughing across the room. His laughter stopped short when Metal was on top of him before any of them could realize it was happening, however. Blue electricity sparked off the floor and nearby table as Sonic yelped in surprise and RK jumped to his feet, though before he could intervene, Metal was sent flying across the room.

Shadow stood over the baffled Sonic as he regained his breath, though wasted no time getting back to his feet, as Metal did the same. However, before the fight could continue, RK moved between them and waved Metal down. “Not in the lab,” he growled, “we’ve got enough damaged equipment as is.”

Metal glared knives at his robotic partner before shifting his gaze past him to Sonic, “This isn’t over, _faker_.”

Sonic huffed and dusted himself off, regaining his composure as easily as ever, “Touchy subject apparently.” He only grinned and shrugged, “lesson learned: don’t insinuate Metal Sonic cares. Ever.” Metal shot him another glare but RK blocked his view again to avoid another fight while Tails shot Sonic a warning stare. He ignored it, though, and turned back to Zero, “You’re gonna have to tell me more about it later when he’s not listening.”

Zero only eyed him and shook his head. He’d learned long ago how touchy the blue bot was and while he didn’t much fear a fight with him, he’d been shocked by the electrical short a couple times and it was annoying waiting for his systems to recover. Though he did still find it curious how defensive Metal got about how much he seemed to care for the little time traveler, as well. RK hardly batted an eye at the various nicknames and suggestions about his protective nature, but Metal denied it at every possible opportunity. He intended to question him about it at some point, but it could wait until he had his ticket home, just in case. Which he would like to find sooner rather than later and directed the conversation back to that point while RK calmed Metal.

By the time Itara and Mira returned, Metal was back to seething in a corner and the others had returned to their own conversations. However, as soon as Itara announced her return, Sonic’s amusement returned with her. “Hey, it’s the robot wrangler,” he teased, getting a look of confusion from both her and Mira.

“The… _what_?”

“Sonic, don’t,” Tails warned, knowing he was likely to spark another fight.

Sonic just shrugged at Tails and turned back to Itara, “We were just talking about how protective the badniks were over you. What kind of programming did you put in them? It’s weird seeing robots that were originally designed to kill me and my team being so defensive.”

Itara’s face burned at the insinuation. Not that it was the first time someone accused her of changing their loyalty programming. In fact, Metal, himself, had accused her of that very thing when he first reactivated. But she shook her head and avoided his gaze, “It’s… it’s not… programming.”

“So you’re telling me, Metal Sonic, the grouchiest, most kill-happy robot ever created, is just protective now?”

Itara’s face only burned brighter but she smirked slightly and laughed awkwardly, “Well… you aren’t wrong about him being a grouch…”

“Keep it up, I can still hear you,” Metal growled from the corner of the lab.

Itara looked towards him, then back at the others, looking between Sonic and Tails and Zero and falling to RK before asking, “What happened?” RK shook his head at her question but Sonic laughed.

“Now that I think about it, when you asked for our help, you did say something about family,” Sonic noted, getting a sigh from Tails and causing Itara’s crystals to flare at the tips of her spines. “Who were you talking about, if you don’t want to help Solaris?”

“I…,” Itara frowned and glanced up at him, then back to the floor. She remained silent, but then looked around at RK and Metal, as well as Mira, who was watching her curiously. After several minutes of silent consideration, she looked up at Sonic again and explained, having calmed herself, “I meant them. RK and Metal, Mira and Kelly, Ned, even Simon and Lynda. They’re important to me. Even…,” she looked down and added silently, “ _even Kipper_.” The addition got RK’s attention as she looked up again, “if Solaris gets his way, everyone will die. RK and Kipper protected me when no one else could in the original timeline. Metal’s a grouch, but he helped me see Mephiles for what he was. And Mira and Kelly accepted me despite not really being the daughter they lost because I exist. I’ll do whatever I can to protect them now.”

The room went silent as her response settled in, all eyes having fallen on her. She looked down once she realized they were staring, but remained silent. Sonic’s grin faded to a thoughtful frown and Mira reached over to pet her head softly, offering a small smile for the sentiment.

When the silence was finally cut, it was Metal Sonic, his scowl having faded, as well. “Tch, emotional little brat,” he huffed loudly, though walked back over from his corner, purposely walking behind her to nudge her on the way, nearly toppling her. “Don’t make it sound so pitiful. I only told you what you already knew. The only reason I was concerned with your relationship with that manipulative Sun God was for my own well-being.”

Itara couldn’t help but smirk at his response, once she straightened herself back up, “Sure, Sparky.”

“And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?!”

“At least three thousand more times.”

He scowled back at her, but she only grinned in response. RK rolled his eyes but said nothing and only passed an amused look to Mira, who shook his head. They had gotten well used to the back and forth over the years.


	3. Anomalies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The groups split up to find the possible anomaly.

Itara walked out onto the desolate street, eyes scanning the horizon. The road ahead was broken and cracked, much the same as anywhere else, but unlike the scorched and melted landscape of Soleanna, violent waves crashed against shattered, slanting buildings. The sea line rushed well into what had once been city limits, drowning everything below three stories. Roads flooded. Buildings caved to rust. The tops of trees stuck out from what used to be a section of forest. Unlike the thick, dry air around most the world, the air here was humid. Heavy. Itara could already feel her fur cling from the muggy air. Yet, it was a strange sort of relief from the dry heat of Soleanna.

They had all set out in their separate ways to search for the power source, in whatever ways they would and could. RK, Metal Sonic, and Zero had all been updated with sensors to scan for the unique signature, while Itara had done her best to describe the sense of power and the likely effects it would cause to nearby surroundings to the others. Shadow, of course, was the most likely to understand what to look for so despite her natural inclination to work against him, she’d done her best to make it clear what he was looking for. The only ones that remained at the base on the computers were Mira and Tails. They opted to stay behind to fix the computer and work on a program to compile all the data everyone would be sending back.

Sonic seemed wary about letting Tails remain behind in potential enemy territory, even if they did have a house full of civilians. But ultimately, Tails convinced him to go. They would all be connected on the same comm unit while they were out; if anything happened, Tails could easily inform him. He also reminded Sonic that he was no longer a child and could handle himself, which Sonic often forgot. Mira was curt and off-putting, but he wasn’t dangerous and the main dangers would be out in the field with him and Shadow.

In the same vein, RK wanted either him – preferably – or Metal to remain with Itara while they were out. Itara also convinced him otherwise, however, stating that they had too much ground to cover in too short a time for them to waste resources like that. RK didn’t like it, but he couldn’t argue. Besides, more than anything, Itara wanted the alone time. She did her best to keep it to herself at the time, but coming face to face with both Sonic and Shadow together, sent chills down her spine. She needed time to recoup away from everyone.

‘C’mon, Shadow, she’s just a kid.’

‘ _Shadow, don’t be so rough, she’s just a little girl._ ’

‘Destroying you will be a start to my plan.’

‘ _I can crush you and Mephiles…_ ’

Itara shook her head violently. Crisis City. Solaris. Even Shadow’s comments. There were too many repeats. She’d learned that Metal Sonic returning to Robotnik after going rogue was a constant. She had hoped Crisis City had been a variable. She promised RK and Kipper that she wouldn’t let Crisis City happen again. She looked up from the scorch marks on the pavement where Biters had likely met a watery end to the burned sky that lit the clouds and fog with an angry orange glow. Far, far away, a great fiery beast was lying dormant in a volcano between battles. Iblis no longer existed. Mephiles no longer existed. But Crisis City still came. She looked down at her hands, pulling the hint of flame forward and watched in equal parts intrigue and disgust as wild, orange fire engulfed both hands, flickering in the humidity. She could feel the heat, but it didn’t burn, not like before. Even as the glowing tendrils reached up her arms, threatening the edges of her sleeves again, she shook them out with ease. She’d been born from shadows, yet now commanded the same flame that threatened her home once again. Her father would regret giving her any of this power again. She would use every last ounce of it to put the world back in order. Even if it was still halved. She continued forward again, summoning her small, purple crystal hounds, and set off on her search.

They had decided to spread out as far and wide as possible; those who could go farther would, which meant she and Shadow went the furthest out from Soleanna. RK remained the closest while Zero covered the area around Spagonia. Both Sonic and Metal insisted they could go the furthest due to their speed, but seeing as thoroughness was more important than a quick scan, they both remained on Soleanna’s side of the ocean. Though they were sent in opposite directions. Itara volunteered to cover around Station Square and, as usual, Shadow gave no direct response about where he’d be going. The only ones who would know his location would be Tails and Mira. Itara gave him a final warning about not covering the same ground before they separated, though he ignored her. Not that she was expecting otherwise. He was still struggling with the memories of Mephiles, she knew better than to push it too far.

In either case, they were all decently spread out across the world and she was possibly the furthest from home. Yet, she still felt a strange calmness in the situation. Maybe it was just getting out of Shadow’s eyesight, maybe it was the prospect of finally answering the mystery of the blotted-out pages. In either case, she was more excited to search than afraid of being alone. She’d been far more alone in far worse situations. This, she figured, she could handle. Unlike the first instance of Crisis City, and unlike the last year of her existence, she had full access to her powers and complete control over them. If danger arose, she felt confident she could deal with it or easily get away. She hadn’t felt this confident in a long time. Though even that reminded her of the reset timeline. When she would jump around time, getting involved with so much without anyone really suspecting who she was or why. All so she could assist in the destruction of the world.

It was possible, she should have felt guilty for that.

Yet somehow, she didn’t. She felt angry, she felt betrayed, she felt a new sense of furious determination to bring the source of the destruction down. Yet, for her own part in the reset timeline, there wasn’t as much guilt as she expected there to be. She couldn’t say why. But that was irrelevant now, anyway, for the time being, she needed to focus on her search. She had to find the source of the blank spots. She had to find a way to defeat Solaris. Admittedly, it was frustrating not having her journal to simply tell her where she needed to look, but she’d gotten used to it. Not only had it been useless for a year now, but with the blank pages, she knew the answer couldn’t be far.

During her trek through dried up waterways on her way to what used to be Station Square, she picked up on a weak source of power emanating somewhere nearby. She couldn’t determine what it was right away, but radioed it in to Tails and Mira, letting them know she picked up on something and that she was looking into it. While she waited for a response, she climbed over a large collection of rubble on the side of the road to follow the trail. However, she hadn’t expected the immediate drop on the other side and scrambled and slid down the muddy embankment to keep her face from planting firmly in the cement bottom of the ravine. She managed to keep her face safe, but sacrificed her palms in the process and hissed at the stinging pain, sitting down to shake them out. As she was pulling small pebbles out of her knees, she caught the glint of something shiny just ahead. She gave her hands a quick look over and pushed herself up to inspect the glint. It took some searching, during which she finally got a response from Mira asking what she’d found, but after a few minutes she spotted the glint again and crouched down to brush some mud away to reveal the small, red, cracked gemstone.

Her heart sunk as she recognized it almost immediately. The diamond-shaped, blood red stone, which fit almost perfectly in her hand, had always had a deep scratch going across it, but the scratch had deepened into a gash and there was a decently sized chunk taken clean out of the top. The faint power she’d felt a moment ago was coming from the gem.

“Oh, Kipper…”

Mira questioned her again about what she found as she stood up, keeping the gem tightly wrapped in her hand as she answered, “It was nothing after all. Sorry. Gonna keep looking.” She gave the gem another quick look then tucked it into the pocket of her overalls. There was no sign of the doll the gem had been attached to, it was likely burned long ago, but at least she could bring the gem home. But now she had to figure out how to get back up the ravine. It was a steep slope with more dirt than rubble, which would make climbing difficult. “Alright Kipper, help me find somewhere to get back up now, would you?” She didn’t expect an answer and she didn’t get one. She was entirely on her own, as expected.

The remainder of her search unearthed no more results once she scrambled her way back up to the road. She got the occasional update from Mira or Tails about the others’ progress, but outside of an extremely desolate Station Square and a far view of the still floating Angel Island, she made no further progress. Station Square fared no better than Soleanna, only replacing fire with water, which Itara couldn’t resist dipping her toes in at one point. Soleanna was so dry even the ocean had fallen back several miles from the once water-surrounded city, not to mention the fact that she and the others had been locked tight inside that house for eight years. She missed fresh water. And fresh air, for that matter, but that was nowhere to be found, not even here. Solaris’ raging heat was powerful and consuming but at least here underneath Angel Island, Chaos kept the waters cool. She guessed it was more for the chao than for humanity, though. On the plus side, Chaos wasn’t one for underlings or monsters, meaning she was in far less danger from attacks than anywhere else.

She may or may not have planned to search Station Square herself for that exact reason. She couldn’t help but wonder if Chaos would know she was there, though. It was her father that was threatening the world and, in relation, the chao and the Chaos Emeralds. Would Chaos take her being near as a direct threat? Would he even notice her with everything going on?

The other Gods being awake was the main difference between Crisis City and this timeline. She’d finally come to understand that it was her father’s intent to destroy everything that roused the others. She didn’t know if they knew about the past timeline or not, if they knew what he had already done once, but they seemed to understand what he would do now, if left unchecked. If Shadow had gone through with his original plan to knock them out one-by-one, it would have been Solaris as last man standing and he would end everything as intended. With the distraction of the other Gods, however, the world still had a chance to recover. Chaos kept the oceans from drying completely and Gaia kept plant life alive where he could. Solaris’ rage couldn’t decimate all life with them around. But the longer the battle went on, the less chance there was at recovery.

With a quick shake of her head, she pulled her shoes back on and stood, staring up at the floating sanctuary. There was no longer any concept of day and night beyond the few remaining working clocks they had kept intact, none of which Itara brought along. She would search a bit longer then return home for rest. Luckily, traveling within the timeline was much easier and less energy-consuming than traveling through time. Even a trip from Soleanna to Station Square and back was relatively straightforward, but she wanted to cover as much ground as possible per day, as well. She gave a final pat to Kipper’s gem to make sure it was still there and continued on her way through the watery grave of Station Square. When her legs grew tired and she no longer had the energy to keep her crystal hounds summoned, she dispersed them and opened a passage to home, informing Tails that she was on her way.

Getting a final glance at the ocean, she stepped through the passage and reappeared once more in the dark basement lab. Kelly was fast asleep and snoring away on one of the kitchen chairs near the computer while Mira sat, typing away beside her. Tails was pacing back and forth near the charging stations, talking frantically with one of the others. “Just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you!” the frantic fox nearly screamed as Itara approached from the shadows across the room.

“What’s going on?”

The sudden question startled both Tails and Mira as they jumped and turned towards her. Kelly gave no indication that she would wake any time soon. Mira remained silent and went back to work but Tails quickly turned his attention to her, “Thank goodness, someone is back! Please! You have to go help Sonic!”

Itara couldn’t help but consider the irony of that statement but kept it to herself, “Well where is he? What happened?” She glanced up at the blinking computer screen with the maps, different comm unit locations, and the program running all the data.

“That’s the problem! He won’t tell me! I think he got attacked!”

“Alright, I’ll go see if I can find him,” she sighed, though unsure what she expected to do against something that could ambush Sonic of all people. “Have everyone else call in at their locations so I can at least narrow it down by where he’s not.”

“Right. Yeah. Okay,” Tails frowned and returned his attention to his own comm unit.

“If we’re lucky, I’ll only have to narrow it down between him and Shadow.” Tails gave her a strange look but called in to the others to ask for their locations. One by one, reports came in and Itara mentally crossed them off on the map until, just as she expected, it was down to Shadow and Sonic, who had stopped responding completely. Tails only grew more panicked by the idea of him being that badly hurt but Itara remained calm as ever. Once she had her answers and Tails begged her to hurry, she waved him off and returned to the shadowy side of the lab. It was easier to travel the more darkness she was surrounded by. “Don’t worry, I’m a time traveler, remember?”

With that, she was gone.

Both locations she needed to check were much further out than they likely should have been so it was hard to tell which was more likely to be Sonic. She decided to check the closest one first, since it made the most sense, but as she exited to a half-destroyed base, it was Shadow she came across first. He was coming from the opposite direction down a long, narrow hallway, his usual unwavering scowl on his face, which only darkened once he caught sight of her. Before he could threaten her, though, which she fully expected him to do, she threw her hands up in defense and explained, “I was looking for Sonic.”

Shadow only narrowed his eyes further, “Why? So you can kill him off again like Mephiles?”

Itara took a deep breath and sighed, putting her hands down. “No.” A shudder ran down her spines as her gaze averted to a nearby wall, “And if you remember that, you should remember that Sonic wasn’t the only one Mephiles was willing to sacrifice to become Solaris again.” Shadow only scoffed. Itara shook the memory from her head and faced him again, letting her honest unease slip for the briefest of moments, “Whether you believe me or not doesn’t matter, but I really do only want to help. I may have been part of Mephiles but… RK and Metal are more important to me and right now, Sonic needs help. Tails said he may have been attacked but couldn’t pinpoint his location, which is why I’m here looking for him. So I’ll see you back at the base, I need to go help him.” She opened another passage and walked through rather than waiting for an answer, leaving the scowling black and red hedgehog to brood on his own.

Her next exit was in a half-burnt forest with the screech of several nearby monsters echoing off every surface. She followed the sound and found a horde of Nightmares tearing into a bloodied and beaten hedgehog, though he was still doing his best to fight them off. She cringed at the sight and decided the best course of action was to stop him beforehand rather than facing off against the horde. Biters she could possibly ward off, but Nightmares gave no differing response to her. There was a clear path leading to the current disaster, suggesting Sonic came from the north, and judging by Tails’ response it had only just happened when she arrived home. A quick jump back five, maybe ten, minutes sounded like enough.

With a few careful, quiet steps back, she reached out to the timelines and stabilized a portal, stepping through with a final glance back. Same place, ten minutes in the past. Unfortunately, as soon as she stepped through, she realized the reason Sonic likely got jumped so easily. She had just stepped into the middle of a veritable army of battling monsters. She dove out of the way of a screeching Nightmare with a yelp, her already injured hands burning with the sudden weight against them again. She shrieked at the clamor that erupted over her, wrapping her hands around her ears and shutting her eyes tight. This was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid!

She managed to summon her own crystal hounds to stave off what she could, but it wasn’t long before they were crushed under a tossed golem and she had to scramble away to avoid joining their fate. But as she stumbled her way around the battlefield, avoiding diving birds, summoning Biters to fight off Nightmares, and nearly stormed by a line of golems, her legs suddenly stopped moving yet the wind rushed by at a speed she knew she wasn’t capable of. She was vaguely aware of talking above the noise of crashing trees and screeching monsters, but it wasn’t until it was all distant echoes that she finally opened her eyes again. Unsurprisingly, she met a pair of bright green eyes, blue fur, and a confused grin.

“I thought we were separating.”

Itara took a deep breath to calm herself, all but deflating into his arms, “We were. But you got attacked and no one else was available.” His confusion only grew as, obviously, he was in perfect condition so she clarified once again, “time traveler.”

“Right…” Sonic looked out towards the ongoing battle and frowned, “You mean I got caught up in that?”

“Correct.”

“And… they sent the kid to help?”

Itara glared up at him and struggled back to her feet, straightening her clothes back out and checking to make sure Kipper’s gem was still in her pocket. “I am older than I look!” she hissed, but shook her head, “That’s not the point.” She scowled at the forest that was now below them. Most of it was charred black and destroyed, but there was a patch or two of somehow surviving trees here and there. They weren’t particularly healthy, but they at least existed, which was better than most. Looking out across the otherwise flattened field, she had a feeling the massive crater several miles south was the reason. She studied the area in silence for several minutes, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as the monsters below grew more and more erratic in nature. It soon became clear why even someone as experienced as Sonic would fall victim to the battle.

What started as a battle between two obvious sides became a mass of confused creatures, battering at everything that moved with no regard for friend or foe. Sonic attempted to speak up but Itara quickly hushed him as she watched them closely. Not only were they attacking each other as well as their enemies, but they seemed to be struggling to remain physical at all. Creatures disappeared and reappeared without warning, missing their mark or jumping into the fray from unseen locations. She pointed it out to the concerned hedgehog and explained, “I believe we may have found what we’re looking for.”

Sonic looked between her and the battle below for several long minutes, then whistled and stood back, “Man, what a mess. But I still have a hard time believing I would get caught up in that.”

“If this is what we’re looking for, it could have very well affected you in a similar way,” she explained, though rolled her eyes at his ever-present cockiness, “As I explained before, you and Shadow are both highly attuned to chaos energy. If a fluctuation can cause the Gods’ creations to warp in and out of existence, imagine what it’d do to you.”

He looked over at her with a brief look of horror, though she never took her eyes off the battle. His expression fixed itself without her ever seeing as he reached up to rub his head, “Man…”

Itara looked up at him again, “We should return to the base and let the others know. If this continues here, they’re likely to wipe themselves out before long. We can come back later with the others and clear the area out more effectively so we can figure out what’s going on.” Once he nodded in agreement, she opened another portal home and led the way through.

They hardly had the opportunity to explain the situation as Tails clung to Sonic the second they stepped through and he caught sight of him. “Sonic! I was so worried! What happened?!”

Sonic just laughed it off and reached up to pet Tails’ head, “You worry too much, little buddy. Look, I’m just fine.”

Tails continued fawning over the hero hedgehog while Itara moved to the computer where Mira sat watching. “I think we’ve found something. Call the others back so we can look into it.”

“Sure, but what happened?”

“I’ll explain when everyone gets here.”

Mira watched her carefully, but nodded and turned back to the computer to send out a message to the others to return ASAP. Tails kept his focus on Sonic in the background as the stream of responses came in. The group returned to the base one-by-one, Itara remaining silent as they did as she moved to sit between the two charging stations so she could write what she could in the defective journal. It wasn’t until RK returned that she moved from her compact spot to climb up on his shoulders to rest, nearly melting against the robot’s head. She was exhausted and the day apparently wasn’t quite done, she would take whatever rest she could while they waited. Shadow was, of course, the last to return but once he did, Itara perked up again to explain what she and Sonic had seen.

“There’s a distinct fluctuation of energy in the area and I believe the effect on Sonic was what would have gotten him jumped had I not intervened,” she explained after pulling up the area on the map. The comment got a huff of indignation from Sonic but she ignored him and continued, “I don’t think the monsters in that area were specifically sent there, I think they were drawn there. It may very well be exactly what we’re looking for but if it’s drawing monsters to it and making them even more violent than normal, it’s obviously going to be dangerous to look into. I think we should wait for the majority of them to wipe each other out and then go back in a larger, more prepared group and clear it out. Then we can set up boundaries to keep them out so we can investigate further.”

“And what if it’s just a trap set up for us by one of the Gods? Or even Robotnik? No one’s heard from him since this all started, he could have been up to any number of things this entire time,” Shadow suggested.

“Robotnik’s been in his space colony this entire time and none of his robots have left nor returned since. We’ve been keeping an eye on Robotnik. As for it being a trap set by the Gods,” Itara trailed off and shrugged, “that’s why I want to be more prepared when we go back. If it’s a trap, we have a better chance of escape with a larger group. But considering the way the monsters were reacting, I’m severely doubting it.”

“I think she’s got a point,” Sonic intervened, seeing Shadow only grow more suspicious, “this is the best lead we’ve had in a long time. We should at least look into it.”

Shadow continued to huff and argue, but was ultimately overthrown by the group at large. They would keep a close eye on the area until it cleared out and run through the possible causes, then move on to discuss the best course of action to study it. Even Shadow, after realizing he was outnumbered on the decision, got involved to make sure they didn’t overlook any possible trap. Even if it was dangerous, Sonic was right, it was the most potential they’d seen since everything started. They couldn’t ignore it.


	4. Arguments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zero confronts Itara about her plans and Simon wants to help.

Itara turned the small red gem in her hand over, inspecting every crevice and indent and glint of light that bounced off it from the computer screen behind her. When she first found the gem, there had been a hint of power emanating from it but now there didn’t seem to be much of anything remaining in the broken crystal. She wished she could ask what had happened but knew the ghost couldn’t communicate without a body, even less so without the power to control said body. She hadn’t expected things to go _well_ for the ghost doll after Solaris finally appeared, but she hadn’t expected this much damage, either. He had a fair warning when she shared half her power with him, that whatever happened after would be entirely on him, though. Was it Solaris? Or did something else attack the doll? Or were her powers simply too much for him to handle? She couldn’t be sure, but she didn’t imagine it mattered much at this point, either. Whatever happened, happened. She would consider this repercussion for lying to her for so long and hoped he learned his lesson. Perhaps someday, she may find him a body again.

In the meantime, they had bigger concerns. Sonic and company had returned to their own base to update the others on what they’d learned and were planning the next part of their own attack while she and the robots worked out their part. Itara had given them as much information as she could supply considering the state of the timelines and they would be meeting back up to discuss further actions once the area around the anomaly was clear. She’d finally put Kipper’s gem back in her pocket and moved to grab her notebook again but was stopped short when Zero suddenly stood in front of her. She hadn’t even seen where he’d come from and his sudden appearance caused her to jump. He was always so silent and unseen compared to everyone else, it was easy to forget he was there at all, but when he did want attention, he made it clear.

With a huff of annoyance, she stepped back to look up at him, “What?” Her tone conveyed all of her annoyance. On accident.

His eyebrow lifted as her outburst caught the attention of the other two but he paid them no mind as he stated, “I want to discuss the plan moving forward with you.”

Itara’s cheeks puffed but she let it out with a huff of air, “Fine, fine, just… let me finish what I was doing.” She waved him aside, though he didn’t move so she walked around him, instead. She grabbed her notebook and pencil and flipped to a blank page at the back to sketch something out. The other two robots crossed the room to find out what was going on as RK moved behind her to see what she was doing.

“Kipper?” he questioned, confused.

Itara nodded curtly and continued her drawing. Once she was finished, she pulled the gem back out of her pocket to show him, “I found it while I was in Station Square. I was thinking of asking Kelly to remake his body. At a later point.”

“Tch, like that troublemaker deserves a body again,” Metal scoffed.

“He won’t be able to move it for some time, I guarantee it,” Itara explained as she pulled the paper out, folded it, and tucked the gem back into her pocket. “Okay, now what?” She looked up at the clearly impatient Zero but was far too used to it to let it bother her.

“If the energy source you’ve found is somehow what you think it is, what are your plans to make use of it?” Zero demanded.

“Well, it depends on exactly what it is and what’s causing it but,” Itara explained, reaching up to scratch behind her ear, “If it’s the same thing that brought you here in the first place, I’d like to try and open it again and reverse the direction. My theory is that it’s another portal and there’s something behind it that’s the actual source of power.”

“Wait, you want to go _through_ it?” RK frowned.

Itara looked up at him and nodded, “That’s the working idea, anyway. But it’s going to be entirely reliant on what it is in the first place. If it’s a portal, I intend to follow it. If it’s an object, I’m going to try to bring it into this timeline. If it’s a person, well…,” she looked off and gave her ear a light tug, “I’m going to hope they’re strong enough to fight Gods, I suppose. And that I can convince them to help, rather than hinder.”

“That is my concern,” Zero stated flatly, “depending on what it is, exactly, there’s cause for concern that it may only worsen the situation. You have no clear idea what is actually going on or what’s truly the cause of the reading. You’re simply going through with all this on the mere _hope_ that it’s going to help rather than destroy us all.” His eyes narrowed sharply as he leaned forward to tower over her further. Itara glanced up at him, her ears flattening against her head as her gaze turned to the floor. Her spines bristled under the sharp glare.

“Well… I…,” she stammered, her voice wavering.

Metal moved to put himself between them and glared back at the other robot with an equally threatening stare. “If you have a better answer, I’d love to hear it,” he bit back with a cautionary coolness. When Zero gave no immediate response, he stood back up straight, shrugged, and looked away, “like the kid said, this has been our best bet since this all started and she’s the one with the most information here. We’ll look into the location, get what we can from it, and move from there. It’ll depend on what it is, after all. We’re not going to go jumping in all willy-nilly.” He turned a glowing red eye back to the other robot, daring him to argue, “You’d think you’d be more ecstatic to get home.”

Zero scoffed and crossed his arms, meeting Metal’s warning with confidence, “I want nothing more than to be rid of this world, but I’m not going to get myself destroyed by the blind optimism of a child, either.”

“I’m not a child,” Itara muttered, though kept her eyesight down and away from them.

“Then take more responsibility for the power you hold over this world,” Zero snapped. Itara winced at the tone and he continued, “you’ve gained the trust of everyone around you and they’re all counting on you to know what you’re doing and what you’re getting _them_ into. You’ve asked them to trust you and they have and now you’re responsible for what happens. Relying entirely on mere hope will only get everyone around you killed!”

Itara curled further into herself at the accusation, but where she had no response, Metal and RK both turned on the third bot with a fury. The argument turned to threats, edging dangerously close to a battle that caused Itara to want to curl up more. However, when she realized a fight was on the verge of breaking out, she quickly uncurled and moved between them all.

“Stop! Stop…,” she pleaded. All three robots were in defensive positions. RK’s claws were up, Metal Sonic’s arm was lit up and sparking violently, and Zero’s hand hovered near the hilt of his saber. They gave no indication that they’d heard her so she yelled a more commanding, “ENOUGH!” Once she was sure they had heard her, she turned to Metal and RK, waving them down, “stop… this isn’t the time for that.” Metal didn’t appear all too eager to back down but they both reluctantly lowered their stances, though kept a sharp eye on the third bot. Satisfied with their response, she turned back to Zero and glared up at him, “You too. I get it, okay? You think I don’t know what’s at stake? What can happen if I mess up again? Like I haven’t _seen_ it once before already? Like I haven’t seen it several times by now?” She shook her head and her demeanor dropped along with her scowl, “I know everyone’s counting on me. I know it’s on me to get it right, to consider everything, to make sure what I do is the right thing. I know more than anyone, about the timelines, the Gods, the threats. But that’s why I know this is the right path. I know this is the answer. I can’t explain it, not properly, probably never in a way you’ll accept but… you just have to trust me, too. I’m not relying entirely on instinct or simple hope, but… a little hope goes a long way, too.”

Zero scowled down at her, studied the pleading look on her face, and slowly dropped his hand from his hilt, though the glare never left his face. “Fine. But I’ll be watching. Closely. Just as you’ll do anything to save your world, I’ll do anything to return to mine. If you put that at risk…”

Itara shook her head and sighed with relief, “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

He made her swear it and turned away, storming off out of the basement, leaving Itara to deflate and drop to the floor, her ears dropping along with her. She gave a heavy sigh, of both relief and exhaustion, but looked up again when she felt someone pick her up. She frowned up at RK as he fixated her in his arms and looked between him and Metal, “You guys… think I’m doing this right… don’t you?” After a moment of consideration, RK nodded while Metal shrugged.

“You’ve always figured things out, despite all odds, I believe you’ll figure this out as well,” RK explained as he walked over to grab the folded-up sketch from the table to hand it to her.

“You’ve always been annoyingly right,” Metal scoffed, “why would that suddenly stop now?”

Itara glared over at him, but when he smirked, she did as well. “Well, I’m glad you’ve finally realized that I’m always right, at least,” she grinned, getting an eye roll from the blue robot, “but Zero is right to a degree. I need more than luck or optimism or hope. I _need_ to be right about this.” She looked over the notebook on the table. The last time the pages went black, the timelines reset. Did that mean the same thing was going to happen this time? Was it caused by the power source? Or was it Solaris for some reason? But why were there several days between the last page and whatever was coming?

As she silently considered everything and the bots went back to their various tasks, another set of steps plodded down the stairs from the house, though only Itara turned to look. It took a minute for her to be able to see from her position, but the much taller human boy came into view about halfway down the stairs. He looked equally unsure and fired up and Itara wasn’t sure what they were in store for this time. Simon had been a pillar of exhaustion and amusement over the years, though he calmed down a great deal from when they first met. He was still a bit excitable, as he had been so long ago, but age and the end of the world matured him more than even Itara expected. Even Lynda, the human woman who spent a good portion of a year trying to sleep with what she hadn’t known was a robot, had calmed down and become surprisingly helpful.

It was a good thing, too, because she and Kelly didn’t get along great at first. Kelly’s rough-around-the-edges, eccentric personality clashed disastrously with Lynda’s social elitist, suburban mom habits. They were polar opposites in every detail and Kelly wasn’t one to hold back punches, both figuratively and literally. Mira, who was far more of a social elite than his wife, managed to dissuade most fights, but Lynda came dangerously close to getting her face punched in several times in the first year or two. But, as it turned out, being forced to live in close proximity to someone for eight years while the world burned around you made even the worst fitting personalities grow complacent with one another. It probably helped that there were three short-tempered robots always present to step in before anything got out of hand, as well.

Simon, similarly, learned to calm down and deal with the situation much quicker than his mother and the hedgehog woman. He still bothered Itara about her powers often enough, especially when she had to use her fire powers for any reason, but she’d gotten used to the curiosity and would just show him what he wanted and he’d let her return to whatever she was doing. Eight years was a lot of time to kill, after all, and it’s not like she had much better to do most of that time. Entertaining Simon kept her mind off the destroyed world and the constant threat of her father dragging her back into the battle.

By the time he reached them, his uncertainty had left his face and he looked almost too fired-up for any of their liking. They never knew what to expect with Simon and the inner workings of his head. The head that Itara could no longer reach and she deeply resented that fact. She knew Simon would get taller than her, he was human, after all, but she hadn’t expected it to be so much so quickly. While she remained stuck at just under three feet, Simon had gotten to be just over five and was still growing.

“What is it, Simon?” RK questioned first and glanced back at the teen.

“I want to help.”

All three of them stopped to turn back to him again, causing him to square up, though whether it was from determination or fear, none of them could tell. Metal eyed the boy suspiciously while RK and Itara mentally sighed. “Simon… we’ve talked about this,” RK stressed, “there isn’t-.”

“No, I know,” he interrupted, shaking his head, “I know I can’t leave the base or help fight monsters or anything like that.” RK raised an eyebrow, which nudged him to continue, “But things have changed now, right? We’ve put the shield down and everyone’s getting active again. We found Sonic and Shadow and you guys are all working on some plan to save the world. I want to help. However I can. Even if it’s just helping repair something, I want to help. Please, I want to save the world, too.”

RK and Itara exchanged glances, RK mostly looking to Itara for an answer. Itara’s brows furrowed as she considered it and shuffled off RK’s lap to grab her notebook. She knew it was useless again but maybe there would be something. She was wholly unsurprised to find nothing of use, of course.

“Come on, Itara, there’s gotta be something. Maybe I can help fix the shield?”

“You think your tiny human body can fix that giant hunk of iron?” Metal sneered.

“I’m taller than you now,” Simon glared, getting a look of utter rage from the bot, but turned a pleading look back to Itara and RK.

“Metal’s right in that vein, the shield is best left to the robots-.”

“But Kelly’s helping!”

“Kelly is also a brute who doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and is weirdly strong even for a mobian,” Itara huffed, shaking her head. Her adopted mother was strange for a number of reasons. “But… I may have an idea.”

Simon’s face lit up and Itara turned to RK, “What are the chances of getting at least Lynda and Simon to the other base without incident?”

Confusion spread across both Simon and RK’s face, but RK’s eye lit up as he ran the numbers and responded, “Decent, depending on how we do it. Why?”

“Well,” she looked away from the others, letting the silence linger a moment before turning back to explain, “I think Simon and Lynda would be more help to Sonic and his team than us. Most of our work from here on out will either be with the computers or out in the field but Sonic has a base with other surviving mortals. I think they could help them out quite a bit.”

“Wait, you want us to leave?” Simon faltered, his pleading look turning to downright horror as Itara turned back to him.

“You want to help, don’t you? Sonic needs more help than we do, plus… you’ve been wanting to see the others again, haven’t you?”

The color drained from Simon’s face but his eyes lit up again at the mention of others, “You mean… our friends…?”

Simon had asked, many times, about their classmates, their friends, the rest of the neighborhood. She’d dodged it every time, for a multitude of reasons. In regards to their friends, though, she’d forgiven Simon for the incident at the festival long ago, knowing he and Sceira, at least, hadn’t actually turned on her. They were scared, it was expected. But Camilla. Camilla had always been aggressive towards her. The festival was only the tip of the iceberg. Susan, too. There were timelines where Susan found out about Metal and RK being robots before the festival. Despite all of it being meaningless in the end one way or another, it caused problems. For that reason, Sceira was the only one she’d ever looked in on outside their group. Simon and Sceira were the only people close enough to her for her to care enough and Simon was with her. But she didn’t want to explain that to him and, instead, dodged his questions about their friends.

“Some of them, yes,” Itara confirmed, “things are about to get even more hectic around here and not even I know what may happen for sure. Not even to this house. But you know a lot more than most since you’ve been around us for so long, I think you’d be helpful for the others to have around. Besides, I’ve heard Sonic mention that Knuckles has been training whoever he can get to take interest to fight off the monsters. We’re not really the training sort but, who knows, maybe Knuckles will show you a thing or two.”

The color returned right back to Simon’s face as he nearly bounced with the sudden excitement. RK, however, only silently scoffed and turned back to the computer. Itara glanced towards the robots before motioning towards the stairs again, “Let’s go talk the details out with your mom and see what she thinks.” Simon nodded ecstatically and bolted back up the stairs. Itara took her time and RK grabbed her attention before she could leave because of it.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, “My time travel abilities may be on the fritz again, but I get the feeling that base is safer than ours. With the shield down, it’s better to move everyone over there instead of keeping them here. I doubt I can convince Mira and Kelly to leave without me, but if I can convince Lynda, Simon, and Ned to relocate, I want to.”

“And what about us, then?” Metal questioned.

Itara smirked, “What? You want to go hide out with Sonic, too?” As expected, Metal’s face twisted into downright fury at the accusation and he turned away from her. She laughed and turned back towards the computer, “I suspect, should anything happen here, _you_ are fast enough to escape it. The same goes for RK. I’m less concerned about two extremely advanced robots and a time traveler than I am about the mortals. Strong as the others are, they’re still only mortals. I’ve kept them safe for as long as possible, but I’m going to have to be far more cautious moving forwards. Everything is about to change and I don’t know how or why.”

Silence drifted through the room for several minutes, Itara staring intently up at the maps and running programs, running several scenarios and possibilities through her head… until RK interrupted her thoughts by reaching over and rubbing her head.

“You’ve really come a long way since you first reactivated me.”

Itara’s face flushed up as she stammered and glared over at him, “W-What do you mean? I…!”

RK smirked and ruffled her spines before returning to the computer, leaving the flustered and stammering Itara to sputter at him as she attempted to recollect herself. Metal only rolled his eyes, though even he was hiding a slight smirk at the small hedgehog’s reaction.


	5. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old friends meet and realizations are had.

“Good, now keep your eye on the target and aim for the red marks.”

A squirrel mobian boy nodded and moved into position as Knuckles stepped back to activate the moving target. They were outside in a temporary training square that he and Espio built for the purpose of recruiting and training civilians interested in joining the long-barren Freedom Fighters. Most of the older fighters were long gone, as were most civilians, but they had taken in as many as they could over the years. Not many were willing to fight the monsters that destroyed the entirety of the world, but once in a while a younger, hot-blooded youth would step up and Knuckles would be more than happy to test their resolve. Even less made it past the initial test stage, but he admired their continued will to fight.

He stood back to watch one of the few recruits that didn’t quit after getting a beat down a couple times but the communicator on his wrist buzzed, drawing his attention away from the squirrel.

“Knuckles, incoming.” It was Tails.

“What are we looking at this time?”

There was silence for a moment, then, “I think it’s the robots again.”

Knuckles huffed in annoyance but at least it wasn’t another monster. Though, that entirely depended on which definition of ‘monster’ you were going by. He typically thought robots designed by Robotnik specifically to kill him counted as ‘monsters’, but apparently he was supposed to play nice with them. For now. He wasn’t the only one upset by recent developments. He had no opinions on the apparent time traveler, though Shadow seemed to take a particular offense to her existence, but his and Sonic’s metal counterparts were a different story. He hadn’t seen his own robotic counterpart in so long he’d honestly forgotten it even existed. What he wouldn’t give to cease its existence for good.

With an incoherent grumble, he turned his attention to the gates between them and the outside world, watching the dirt getting tossed about in the distance. He called to the squirrel recruit to fall back for now and deactivated the mechanical dummy, storming over to the entrance to purposely block their path. The kid argued, but after noticing the incoming figures he stopped short and stood back as instructed. Before he could get far, the red and blue robots were sliding to a stop in front of the gate. Knuckles didn’t immediately see the little girl they were with last time but he did take a particular notice of new additions. He puffed his chest and crossed his arms in preparation for a battle, but lost a good bit of his air when the human woman in Metal Knuckles’ arms cried out in relief.

“Oh goodness! I’ll never get used to that speed!” the dirty blonde exclaimed as RK set her down. Knuckles eyed them suspiciously and only grew more confused as another human, a child in his early teens, climbed down from Metal Sonic’s back.

“The ground is spinning.”

Metal grumbled and crossed his arms, looking away while RK finally turned to face Knuckles with equal disinterest. The air only grew more tense as neither party seemed eager to talk until a squeal echoed from behind Knuckles. The group glanced back as the squirrel boy raced towards them, his eyes wide, mouth agape, staring at the humans that had accompanied the robots.

“SIMON?!”

“TOBI!”

“You’re alive!”

The group watched the two reunite, the only one showing no sign of confusion being RK. The two embraced, all but ignoring the awkward height difference as the human boy lifted the squirrel up with ease in sheer glee. “I never thought I’d see anyone but Itara ever again!” he cried.

“Itara’s alive, too?!” Tobi gasped as soon as he was put back down, struggling to keep his emotions in check.

Simon nodded, but it was a third voice that spoke next, “You’re all fools if you think anything so trivial could kill me.” Itara walked out from a nearby shadow and scanned over the group, nodding, “Good, everyone made it.” She had little time to explain further as Tobi sent both of them crashing to the ground. “G-Get off!” she screeched, though got little more than a laugh from her old friend as he awkwardly pulled them both back to their feet.

“Sorry, I just… I haven’t seen anyone else in so long… I was sure you were all…,” the squirrel trailed off as Simon joined them again.

Itara huffed and dusted herself off, walking past them to talk with Knuckles again, “Yes, yes, that’s all well and good, but there’s work to be done.” She looked between the other four and centered on Knuckles, “Are the others around? I’d like to update everyone at the same time.”

Knuckles eyed her suspiciously, though his gaze hardly left RK for longer than a couple seconds, “Mostly. Shadow and Omega took off like they normally do but the others are all here. Who’s this?” he gestured towards the humans.

Itara glanced back at her friends, who were watching her with wide-eyed wonder, and over to Lynda, who was purposely leaning against RK to ‘recover’ from the run. “Lynda and Simon,” she explained, looking back to Knuckles, “they’ve been living with us since Solaris returned. There are others at our base, as I’m sure Sonic likely mentioned, but…” her voice grew quiet as she finished, “I thought they’d be safer here now. I’d like them to stay with the other mortals you’ve kept safe here. Specifically, there’s… there’s a scorpion family that…” She trailed off again and her gaze fell to the ground, which caught the two boys’ attention.

“Sciera’s here?” Simon questioned, more hopeful than shocked.

Itara nodded and Knuckles studied the lot of them, “How do you know about that?”

“Itara’s been keeping an eye on Sceira this entire time,” Simon offered when Itara remained silent, sending the time traveler’s face into an immediate flush. “We were all classmates.”

Knuckles looked between the kids and debated for a long few minutes before sighing, the distaste never quite leaving his tone as he motioned towards the building, “Fine, fine, let’s get inside then. I’ll take the civilians back to the safe house first, you three head into the meeting room. You know where it is.” He gave the robots a final warning glance and stated, “Sonic and the others are all there so no funny business.”

Both RK and Metal scoffed but Itara sighed and agreed, “No funny business. I promise.”

“Hey wait,” Tobi interrupted before they could get far, his brows furrowed in confusion, “What’s going on?”

“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know,” Simon realized, “I’ll explain on the way.” Tobi only looked more confused as Itara led the group inside, Knuckles waiting until RK and Metal were through before taking up the rear, refusing to take his eyes off them for any length of time. Once they reached the split between the office and the rest of the base Knuckles took the lead again to show the others to the safehouse. Simon turned to wave at Itara but Lynda stopped her before she could enter the office.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright?” she questioned, crouching down to eye-level.

Itara smirked and shrugged, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it. More importantly, you and Simon will be safer here and there are more people for you to be around. I’ll be around, but make sure you take care of yourselves, alright? Whatever you do, stay safe.”

Lynda frowned and reached over to pull the hedgehog girl into her arms, squeezing her tight and petting between her ears before getting up again to follow the others down the longer hall. Itara watched after them for a moment then turned to continue into the office in silence. She didn’t know what would happen from this point on. She was worried, but she couldn’t get distracted.

The office door was open when they arrived and she could hear chatter from inside, multiple voices again. Sonic, of course, was the loudest. Itara listened for a short moment to gauge the mood before pushing the door open further and halting all conversation. All eyes fell on them as they crossed the threshold of the office but Itara ignored the majority of the room so she could focus solely on Sonic and Tails. They regarded her with the same apprehension as the robots now, but she was used to that.

“I assume Shadow and Omega are in the same place as Zero,” she inquired.

“If by that you mean blowing steam by clearing out the anomaly area, then yes,” Tails sighed. Itara nodded. “Hopefully they don’t cross paths too often.” Once again, Itara nodded. She didn’t see Shadow and Zero’s personalities meshing well, from what she’d been able to gauge about Zero. He barely tolerated Metal most the time, she knew Shadow well enough to know he was considerably worse tempered. “So has there been a change?”

Itara nodded curtly and crossed the room, “I believe we should move tomorrow. With Shadow, Omega, and Zero all ‘blowing off steam’, the area will be relatively clear in a short while and the energy is fluctuating again. I can’t say for sure, but if I had to take an educated guess, I’d say it’s better to strike sooner rather than later.”

“So what do we do, then?” Sonic questioned, though he’d barely taken his eyes off Metal, as usual. It wasn’t helping that Metal was responding in kind, silently taunting his counterpart.

“We split up into teams to border the area while Shadow and I locate the center of the readings. I’d like to bring specific equipment along to study and test the center to determine what it is, then report back here to decide how to move forward, depending on what we find.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being left alone with Shadow,” RK stated.

Itara offered a small smile and waved his concern away, “It’ll be fine, I’m sure. We’re all working towards the same goal, I don’t see why he’d jeopardize that.” She said, but RK’s expression conveyed every bit of her own uncertainty about that statement, and with a glance around the room, she realized she was fooling no one. Shadow would jeopardize a lot if the mood struck him just right. Especially if it was someone he considered an enemy and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind at this point that he saw her as public enemy number one. She shook her head and turned back to Sonic and Tails, “Mira’s been helping develop the program to read the anomaly but I won’t let him out in the field in its current state. He’s smart, but he’s not a fighter. Someone else is going to need to stand by and log the readings. They’ll go to the center with us.”

Of course, she knew Tails would be the best for that, but she wanted to leave the option open in case someone else was possibly better suited. Plus, she didn’t want Sonic to be suspicious of her motives if she suggested Tails right away on her own. Luckily, Tails picked up on her meaning right away and nodded, “I’ll do that.”

Just as suspected, though, Sonic looked uneasy with the idea and reached over to rest a hand on the fox’s arm, “Are you sure?”

Tails nodded and gave him a quick thumb’s up, “Tech is what I do best.”

Sonic’s concern didn’t seem any less prevalent, but the conversation dropped as Knuckles entered the room. He eyed the robots on his way in and moved over to his team with his arms crossed. “So what’s the deal?”

“Looks like we’re moving tomorrow,” Sonic explained, “Split up into teams to cover the area while Shadow, Tails, and the kid find the center to figure out what it is.” He looked back at Itara, who was making a face at being called a kid again, and asked, “I’m assuming our job is just to keep monsters at bay?”

“Monsters… Dark Gaia…,” Itara explained, unease spreading through the room immediately.

“Dark Gaia?”

“He’s been the most active of the three lately and there’s a rift near that forest. You saw it, yourself. I’m not saying Dark Gaia will show up for sure, but I just want everyone to be aware of possibilities.”

The room fell into uncomfortable silence until another set of steps approached the room along with a gruff, disgruntled voice, “Shouldn’t you know, time traveler?”

Itara glared back at Shadow as he scowled back at her. Omega wasn’t far behind and, much to her surprise, Zero was behind them. They hadn’t spoken since their argument the other day so she was surprised he knew they would be there. The silent treatment gave no edge today, either. She returned her attention to Shadow and huffed in annoyance, “I _should_ yes, but as I explained and _showed you_ , my time travel abilities are on the fritz again. Specifically, because of the thing we’re investigating. Tomorrow. You and I are going to the center to find out what it is while the others keep watch. Tails is coming with us to work the reader and then we’ll move from there.”

“What makes you think I want to-,” he began but Itara scowled and interrupted.

“This isn’t the time for your sass! This is what’s happening and that’s that! If you want to save this world from certain doom, you and I are going to find out what that anomaly is and I am going to fix it. End of story.”

Shadow’s scowl only darkened but the chorus of badly disguised giggles around the room put a stop to whatever argument he was about to voice. Sonic, especially, made no attempt to hide his laughter and even went so far as to poke at the grumpy hedgehog.

“You got _told_ ,” he laughed while Shadow shifted his glare from Itara to Sonic. Itara would not outwardly admit it, but she was glad to have the attention off her.

“Keep it up, faker, I’ll destroy you.”

“Oh, c’mon Shadow, don’t be such a grouch. If we’re all gettin’ serious tomorrow, we should have a bit of fun today, don’tcha think?” He looked over at the other three and beamed, “What do you say? Why not get everyone together? You and the others have been holed up in that base for years, right? I’ll even let that hunk-of-junk come along.”

Metal eyed him sharply while Itara only looked off in thought, “Well…” There were some people she wouldn’t mind meeting up with again. Plus, it might give her the excuse needed to get Mira and Kelly over to this base. She turned back to Sonic and gave a short nod of agreement, letting them go about their conversations regarding the get-together while she turned back to the robots, explaining her idea. RK agreed easily enough, but Metal sighed in great dramatic fashion about having to taxi yet more organics over. Itara rolled her eyes and bid the others farewell so they could return to their own base.

Upon arriving back home, they explained the situation to the remaining members of the household, which she got a variety of responses to. Mira seemed reluctant to leave, but Kelly was all onboard for getting out and around others again. Ned only nodded in silent acceptance as he often did. He was getting on in years and Itara wasn’t sure how much more excitement he could handle, but he waved her concerns away and they discussed how best to get everyone there. It was unsafe to traverse the distance on foot without RK and Metal’s speed or Itara’s teleportation so Metal got the job of carrying Kelly – much to his dismay – while RK carried Ned, and Itara would travel through the shadows with Mira. Though she would need rest to do so. Traveling herself was one thing, but taking another with her was another entirely. At her full power it was simple enough, but with her power halved, it took a considerable amount of energy. Luckily, it sounded like Sonic would need time to get everyone together so she figured she had time for a nap.

It wasn’t a long nap, but it was enough to get her and Mira to the other base. She would need to rest again once they got there, though. She berated the little red gem still in her pocket for all the difficulties, but opened a portal to the other base once RK and Metal took off. Carefully guiding Mira through, they stepped out in front of the base where Zero was standing guard outside. He only tossed them a quick glare and said nothing as they passed. Itara mentally sighed and hoped she was right about finding his way home so he’d stop being so angry with her. Though really, she was used to people being angry with her. Metal hadn’t been much different when he first reactivated and even though he was still as grumpy as ever, he at least seemed to tolerate her a fair bit more. Was RK the only robot that _wasn’t_ grumpy with her right from the get-go?

Her thoughts were interrupted as the faint sounds of chatter echoed down the hall from the large auditorium. She and Mira exchanged a short glance before pushing through the swinging doors to see the sparse groups of mobians and humans alike scattered around the expansive room. Sonic was bouncing about between groups, chatting to everyone in turn while Tails and Knuckles stood near the stage, talking amongst themselves about tomorrow’s plans. RK and Metal had already arrived and were standing near the doors, as close to the exit and as far from everyone as possible. Ned was standing next to them, watching the small groups mill about with a distant look while Kelly was returning from the opposite side with a foldout chair for the elder fox.

Itara and Mira joined them again, scanning the room, but it wasn’t long before Itara heard her name called out. She looked around for the source but it was RK who pointed out the human and squirrel boys off to one side, waving excitedly to her. Itara’s face lit up as she looked between her past classmates and the robots, Kelly stepping over to nudge her towards her friends with a grin. Itara gave them a final glance before taking off, at walking speed.

Tobi was the first on her once she got closer, nearly knocking her over again until he grabbed her hands to keep her stable, but yelling in all the excitement she remembered him having back in school despite the several year difference. She was apparently the only one to not grow even an inch the entire time.

“YOU’RE A DEMI-GOD?!”

Itara’s ears flattened as all she could offer was an uncomfortable smile. She wasn’t sure how to respond. “I… guess?”

“That’s so cool! Why did you never tell us?! You’ve been all powerful this entire time?!”

Simon cringed slightly behind him, Itara noted, but turned her attention back to Tobi and reached up to pull at her ear, “There’s a lot about me I’ve never told you. I couldn’t.”

“Do something now! Simon said you can TIME TRAVEL and control FIRE!”

Itara sighed. Simon ratted her out again. She thought she was already use to this but apparently not. She scratched at her ear and took a step back to regain what little composure she could, “I can. Yes. Technically. But not now. There are too many people and I’m tired.” She glanced around quickly before looking at the two boys again with a hint of disappointment, “Is, uh… this everyone?”

Tobi looked at her with confusion before Simon stepped up again, knowing what she was asking, “Over there.” He pointed to the far side of the room, in one of the smaller groups of older mobians, where three long, braided pincers were shifting about, one jet-black, the other two a more greyish brown. The taller of the two was talking with the older mobians while the other stood there quietly waiting. As soon as Itara caught sight of them, her face flushed up again.

Once Tobi realized who they were talking about, he went to the trouble of calling out to the scorpion girl, yelling and waving from the opposite side of the room, garnering plenty of stares in the process. The scorpion in question turned towards the noise before turning back to her father, who glanced in their direction, narrowed his eyes, and excused them from the group he’d been talking with. The two made their way over to them, the older scorpion noticing the newest addition right away and watched her all the more warily. Simon and Tobi stepped aside to make room for them, smilingly widely despite the tense air.

“So, you’re alive,” the male scorpion questioned with all the bitterness Itara had expected. “I assume that means your _robots_ are around, as well?”

Itara nodded awkwardly but the conversation caught the younger girl’s attention as her pincers stiffened. “Robots? …Itara?” Her voice was cautious and wary, with a barely contained hint of hopefulness.

Tobi and Simon both jumped away as Itara’s arms finally seemed to catch fire from her face and burst into flames, which immediately put the other scorpion on edge as he pulled his daughter further away. Itara squealed in shock and shook her arms out to put the flames out, though struggled with it for a minute before finally sputtering apologies. “S-Sorry! I… I don’t…,” she took another step back and took a deep breath to calm herself, “I’m sorry. Hi Sceira. I’m… glad you’re okay.”

Simon burst into a fit of laughter while Tobi watched her with wide-eyed awe. Sceira’s father seemed no less wary about her but Sceira’s face lit up at the sound of her voice and broke free of her father’s grasp to reach for her. She found the flustered hedgehog easily enough as Itara didn’t dare move and struggled to control her powers as Sceira wrapped her up in a tight hug. Even Sceira was taller than her now. Well, they’d all been taller than her the entire time, but this was ridiculous. Sceira backed up only a bit after a moment and beamed at her, “I’m so glad you’re okay! It was just me and my dad for so long! …You’re so warm, are you okay? Did you just come from outside?” Simon only laughed harder while Itara stuttered and stammered through a vague concept of an agreement. Of course, that wasn’t the real reason, but she didn’t have the capacity to explain, either.

Once Sceira backed up again and released her, Itara took a moment – and a much deeper breath – to calm herself while Simon attempted to do the same. After several long minutes of Simon trying to muffle his laughter and Itara trying to control her breathing, the two finally calmed enough to properly speak.

“There’s… actually a lot I need to explain,” Itara finally stated, looking between her friends. “About me. Simon and Camilla already saw, at the festival eight years ago, but I wanted to finally explain it to you, Sceira.” The scorpion girl’s brows furrowed as her father watched cautiously, his eyes narrowing further as Itara pulled her hand up, letting the crystals cover it and reaching for Sceira’s hand to let her feel them. Sceira only looked more confused as her fingers ran over the smooth, warm crystals, nearly jumping when Itara closed her hand around hers, “I’m not mortal. The reason Simon and Camilla reacted the way they did at the festival was because my powers returned when Solaris did, because I’m part of him. I can summon the same creatures that now roam the land, the ones destroying everything. I’m a time traveler who’s seen the end of the world time and time again. But that’s why I know, more than anyone else, how to stop it.”

She pulled her hand and her crystals back again, looking away from them, “The reason I have so many ‘guardians’ is because my real father is Solaris. RK and Sparky are robots I stole from Robotnik and repaired. Sparky’s real name is Metal Sonic. RK is short for Robot Knuckles.” She watched Sceira and Tobi recoil out of the corner of her eye. Simon already knew. “Mira and Kelly are the parents of the mobian child I stole the body of. I have no physical body of my own.”

“Wait.” She looked back as Tobi struggled to piece what she said together. “You mean we… we were hanging around _Metal Sonic_ that entire time?!” Panic spread across his face as Itara glanced over towards the robot, who was still pouting near the exit.

“Yes. Metal Sonic. Robot Knuckles. The daughter of Solaris. And Tails Doll.”

“Wait what?”

“The fox doll I used to carry,” she explained, turning back to them, “It was actually a ghost by the name of Tails Doll.” She reached into her pocket to pull the gem out, “He resides in this gem, his body was destroyed long ago.” She returned the gem back to her pocket and continued, “But that’s the truth of my household. Rogue robots, a time traveler, and a ghost doll. That’s why I was so weird. Why I didn’t associate with anyone at first. I was never normal.” She took a deep breath and studied the shocked and solemn expressions on her friends faces, and the scowl on Sceira’s father, before sighing and shrugging, “It honestly feels good finally getting this off my chest. It was hard to keep it hidden, especially with my powers fluctuating like they were back then. But there was a reason I wanted to tell you now.” She glanced around, spotting Sonic still bouncing around, and Shadow sulking in a corner, “Starting tomorrow, I’ll be working with Sonic and Shadow to find an energy source we’ve been tracking that I think holds the answer to the rampaging Gods. My time travel abilities are on the fritz, so I have no idea what’s going to happen from here on out, but I wanted you guys to at least know. Just in case.”

There was a long silence as she let her words sink in, keeping her sights across the room, nearly jumping when one of them grabbed her hand. She looked back to see Sceira smiling, feeling her grip tighten, as she explained, “I’m glad you told us.”

Simon joined her before long, grinning and resting an arm on her head, “I’m just glad you’re on our side!” Itara flushed up again.

Tobi shook his head and grinned, “So THAT’S why you were so good at Fight of Gods!” Itara struggled to keep the fire off her face as she stammered and looked away, though found it difficult with her friends filling her entire vision. Simon and Sceira laughed while Itara closed her eyes to calm herself. This. This was why she had to fight Solaris. This was why she had to stop him this time. She had friends and family to protect this time. Whatever they found tomorrow, she was determined to make use of it. For Simon and Tobi and Sceira. For Mira and Kelly and Ned. And for RK and Metal. This world meant something to her now and she refused to let Solaris ruin it.


	6. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One incomprehensible Nightmare after another, Itara and co head to the center of the forest to find the anomaly.

_The world was covered in darkness. Nothing, as far as the eye could see._

_The air was thick, heavy. The ground gave way with every step, requiring more and more energy to get through. Her voice disappeared into the void with every call and nothing ever responded. Darkness covered every square inch, so consuming that she couldn’t make out her own body. As she muddled her way through the thick atmosphere, little blips of deep red flashed in the distance. She didn’t know what they were, but they gave her a heading. Something to move towards._

_The ground sank more, the air grew hotter, and it became harder to breathe, but the blips were still there. As she drew closer, they took shape. Vague at first, they slowly formed into small, flashing boxes. They looked strange, like they both had form yet didn’t. Their colors made no sense and emitted a light that only illuminated themselves. But it was better than the darkness, and so she pushed forward._

_The boxes grew in number, but never size. She couldn’t tell if they were close or far away and they stretched for miles. Finally, a noise, the first one she’d heard. A voice. Garbled and incomprehensible, but deep and echoing. She didn’t recognize it but it meant she wasn’t alone. She trudged forward._

_The boxes flashed and warped, grew and shrank, were everywhere and nowhere. They were ahead of her and then behind her. The voice remained silent again and she no longer knew which direction to travel. The darkness was as all-consuming as ever and she questioned if she had made any real progress at all._

_Just as soon as she was about to give up, the boxes surrounded her, then blipped out of existence again. The voice spoke up. This time it was clearer, though there were no words. Only a laugh. As her head swam and she questioned her sanity, a figure appeared, huge and looming, directly in front of her. Misshapen and metallic with a bright red and yellow eye glowing in the center, staring directly at her-_

Itara darted up out of bed with a gasp, looking around the dimly glowing room frantically, clutching the sheets with crystallized claws as the purple and green of her eyes swam back and forth. It took several minutes of heavy panting and reassurance before she slowly calmed and let out a long, slow breath. Her head dropped, along with her ears, as the crystals around her fingers and the tips of her spines retreated again. “A dream…,” she sighed to herself and glanced around the room. There was no concept of day and night and thus she had no idea how long she’d slept, or even when she fell asleep in the first place now that she was thinking about it. She was in bed, back home, but she had no recollection of leaving the other base.

She recalled sitting and catching up with her friends for a long while. Once the explanation about her and the robots finally ended (her friends having no shortage of questions about it, as she expected) the conversations turned to the others and how they’d managed over the years. Itara and Simon explained that they’d been holed up in the base the entire time, never leaving until they contacted Sonic, but the other two had much different experiences. Itara had kept a silent eye on Sceira over the years, but only Sceira.

They discussed the festival and what they remembered of it, but it was a topic dropped quickly, Simon and Sceira both visibly uncomfortable with the memory, though Itara assured them she’d forgiven them long ago. Afterwards, the conversation moved to how everyone got to the current base, during which Sceira explained that her dad was actually a Freedom Fighter years ago, a fact he’d kept hidden from even her for some time. But when everything started, he brought her and her mother to a Freedom Fighter base where he finally let on about his past. Itara figured he had to be something of that ilk when he caught on to Metal Sonic so quickly.

Sceira and her family had mostly been in the same place the entire time, but they’d lost her mother during one of the few times they’d been run out by a collapse. They’d been at the current base the longest. Tobi, on the other hand, had mostly been surviving by bouncing around the area alone. He’d been separated from his parents during the festival and never managed to find them again, even after returning home. It wasn’t until Sceira’s father happened upon him during an outing that he was brought to the current base.

After a while of talking with her friends, though, Itara went to check in on Metal and RK, to make sure they weren’t causing problems and get an update on Shadow and Zero. She moved up to RK’s shoulders to get a better view of the room and… oh. That must have been when she fell asleep. She looked up from the blankets again to look around and listen, but the house was quiet. Far quieter than she was used to. No clattering or clanking of dishes, no snoring, none of Simon’s yammering, or even passive-aggressive fights between Lynda and Kelly. Was she possibly still dreaming? With a quick pinch to her arm and a wince, she determined that she was, in fact, awake. But with that confirmed, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and dropped to the floor to search for the others. The silence, like her dream, was uncomfortable but at least she could see her surroundings and her own arms.

But what was the meaning of the dream this time? That wasn’t Mephiles or Iblis or even Solaris. It certainly wasn’t Gaia or Chaos. What were those cubes? She didn’t recognize anything in the dream at all. Maybe it was just a dream for once. Normally such vivid dreams were heavily connected to her father, whenever she could remember such detail after waking up it was meant as a warning. But perhaps it was just stress from the coming event and state of the world. Even she could get stress dreams, after all.

She shook her head and looked around the empty living room where she and Ned had been sleeping for the past eight years – she’d offered her room to Lynda and Simon – the empty kitchen, the empty spare bedroom Mira and Kelly had taken up. No one was around. Why? She headed to the basement door and called out for RK and Metal but the lack of response put her further on edge. She was almost afraid to go down but took a deep breath and descended. Her concern was quickly dissuaded as she saw all three robots hooked up to the charging cells and in standby. They were still there, they were just charging. How long ago did they come home, though?

Well, they would reactivate when they were ready. The house was empty for the first time in years, maybe she should take advantage of the quiet. She looked up towards the stairs, then back at the desk – at the black notebook beside the keyboard and the red gem sitting on top of it. She really could use someone to talk to right now. With a sigh, she walked over and picked the gem and journal up, returning to the stairs and continuing to the kitchen. No one was around to stop her from getting into the food, at least.

She set the book on the dining table and tucked the gem into her pocket again, “I don’t know if you can even hear anything right now or not, Kipper, but things have been a little crazy again lately and I miss having you to talk to.” She climbed up on the counter to get into the cupboards, knowing there were some snacks packed away into the back, “I had a really strange dream that I have no idea what it means for once. There was nothing familiar about it so I don’t know if I should take it as a warning or disregard it as a stress dream. Not that I’d even know what to take the warning _about_ in the first place, I suppose. I’m about to spend a lengthy amount of time with Shadow of all people here soon, so I guess it makes sense I’m stressed out. Sonic is one thing, he’s annoying but he’s mostly harmless, aside from bad memories. Shadow, though…” She trailed off, frowning, “Shadow remembers Mephiles now. He remembers _me_. If I’m not careful, he’d be all too easy to set off.”

There was a packet of old cookies at the back of the cupboard. But as she turned around to munch on them, sitting at the counter surrounded by the hot glow of a world on fire, she couldn’t help but remember the original timeline. When RK and Kipper showed up after Shadow nearly killed her, when she so foolishly protected Mephiles. It was the first time she met Iblis. Technically the first time she met Shadow. She was supposed to die that day. If it hadn’t been for RK and Kipper, if Mephiles got his way, she would have died in the original timeline and Mephiles would have had her shard of his power back. She wouldn’t have a second chance at existence, never would have seen the world as it was supposed to be, never got to experience everything she has since the reset.

She glanced down at the stale, crumbling cookies in the package. Kipper brought her a little bag of stale cookies then. While she was recovering from the attack. She couldn’t help but smile a little and pat the pocket with the gem, “You’re a troublemaker, but I liked having you around for as long as I did, Kipper.” With that out there, she returned to her cookies to debate the dream again, explaining it in as much detail as she could to the silent ghost, hoping to spark some sort of realization if she verbalized it. She didn’t get far, though, as she was out of cookie crumbs long before she made any sense of the dream images.

* * *

The pages of her journal were still blank. Itara flipped through the book, particularly the last half, one more time before closing it and putting it in the small backpack. Whatever happened today, she would be flying as blind as everyone else again. Luckily, she’d gotten used to that by now. In a way, it was almost comforting. With the backpack filled and zipped up, she pulled it on and walked out of the bedroom to the living room where the three robots were waiting, some more impatiently than others.

Metal Sonic was bouncing from foot to foot, Zero had his arms crossed by the door, and RK was waiting just outside the bedroom, ready and waiting to check over her. “You sure you have everything you need?” he questioned as he knelt down to let her climb up to his back.

“Yep.” She patted the pocket with Kipper’s gem to make sure it was still there and got comfortable against the tall, fluffy, pirate robot. “You all got enough of a charge?” Short nods around the room and they were all out the door, headed back to the base where everyone else was waiting. As eager as Metal was to finally get back into action, she and RK were more wary of the situation. Zero was as unreadable as ever. They were only going to be investigating the area, though, they wouldn’t be making any active decisions until they knew what exactly the anomaly was. The only thing to be wary about was the possibility of Dark Gaia appearing… and Shadow’s mood.

Itara gave a quiet sigh of resignation as the other base appeared on the horizon. She didn’t want to be near Shadow, especially not mostly alone, but there wasn’t much choice. They would all be connected over a comm unit at least, so if anything did go wrong she could alert RK or Metal, but it didn’t put her at much ease. Metal was fast, but Shadow wouldn’t give much warning if she pushed him the wrong way, either. Plus, there would still be some monsters in the area. That was the purpose of the others running point around the perimeter, but there was no telling what may happen. The fact that every time she tried to check further in the day, her portals sidelined her back to the present wasn’t helping, either. She’d been able to check shorter and shorter times in the future for the past few days, but now she couldn’t even get five minutes. They would need to take extra precautions.

They met up with Mira and Kelly outside the base, having to deal with a brief panic from the hedgehog parents about their sudden disappearance last night, before moving inside. Apparently RK and Metal didn’t inform anyone that they were leaving when they did and it caused Mira no shortage of fury. Luckily, Itara managed to talk him down again so they could get back to what was important. The group continued down the halls in silence until they once again entered the office to the usual faces. Tails and Knuckles were going over a list of precautions while Sonic was attempting to hold Amy off. Espio leaned against a box on the nearby wall with his eyes closed while Vex seemed to be pumping himself up for the coming mission. Rouge was doing maintenance on Omega towards the back of the room… but Shadow was nowhere to be seen. Itara scanned the room a couple more times, thinking maybe he was just hiding, but after not seeing him, she turned her attention to Tails and Knuckles, who noticed their appearance first.

“Where’s Shadow?” The rest of the room’s eyes fell on them.

Tails sighed in exasperation and explained, “He already took off. He said he would meet us there and refused to wait.” Itara rolled her eyes but to say she was surprised in any way, shape, or form would be an outright lie. “We shouldn’t take long catching up, though.”

Itara nodded and the group as a whole collected around the console in the middle of the room. They discussed and debated groupings and who would cover what area. Metal and Zero were the most difficult to get on the same page, both insisting they could work just fine alone, but while RK eventually convinced Metal to just pair up with him, Zero remained persistent. Luckily, Itara was already used to dealing with him and Metal and the other group was used to Shadow, so they were able to work around the collective stubbornness and get a plan figured out.

Itara and Tails would head for the center to meet up with Shadow while RK and Metal would cover the southern perimeter, near Gaia’s crater. Sonic and Knuckles would cover the north, to keep as much distance between them and the robots as possible. Espio and Vex would cover the west, while Rouge and Omega handled the east. Amy elected to stay behind to keep at least one fighter at the base in case anything came their way while everyone was out. Monsters still roamed free across the area and while the base was as secure as it could be, there was still the occasional attack. Mira also opted to remain in the console room with Amy should they need any technical support from the base. Kelly tried to convince the others to let her join, but Mira ultimately convinced her she was needed at the base more. In case there was anything Amy couldn’t handle alone, Kelly would be sufficient backup.

The final addition gave Sonic a minor hint of relief that only Tails seemed to pick up on and thus said nothing about it. Despite his constant insistence otherwise, he knew full well Sonic’s feelings towards Amy and the idea that she would be defending the base alone worried him, though he still wouldn’t admit it out loud. With the situation handled, everyone went through final preparations and headed out of the base. Amy and Kelly followed them to the door, Amy commanding that everyone double-check that their comm units were synced up before letting them outside the gate. RK, Metal, and Zero opened a second connection to sync to the groups instead of allowing them on their main connection line.

“Be safe, okay? If anything gets dangerous, come back, alright?” Amy practically pleaded as they geared up to leave.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” Sonic grinned, exchanging glances with Knuckles before taking off. Amy watched the trail of dust behind him while Knuckles huffed at being left behind. He nodded to the group then took off after the blue speedster. Espio, Vex, Rouge, and Omega weren’t far behind and Zero was gone before anyone had a chance to even ask where he’d be. Kelly gave Itara a final pat on the head before following Amy back inside, leaving RK, Metal, Itara, and Tails remaining at the gate.

“We’ll follow you to the center before continuing south,” RK stated in a no-argument tone and crouched down to let Itara onto his back again. Tails watched them warily but nodded and motioned for them to lead the way. He’d talked with Sonic the night before about the robots, mostly boiling down to Sonic being absolutely sure they were still up to something and warning Tails to keep an eye on them. He would do so, but something about at least Metal Knuckles’ mannerisms said he had less to worry about than he initially thought. Metal Sonic on the other hand…

They took off, following the directions Itara gave them the night before mostly in silence. Metal kept darting ahead and slowing down to let them catch up again but RK kept at pace with Tails, despite knowing he could keep up with Metal easily enough. Metal tossed a menacing grin Tails’ way every so often, but otherwise said nothing, but RK kept his focus ahead of him and on the little girl on his back.

After some time, Tails could no longer resist and questioned, “Did you alter Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles’ loyalty chips to serve you instead?”

RK only glanced at him but Itara sighed rather dramatically, “Why does everyone keep asking me that?! No! I didn’t alter their loyalty chips! Metal’s couldn’t even be altered if I’d wanted to, it was too advanced.”

“Was? Then… why…?”

“I just repaired them, that’s all,” she explained, “well, I repaired RK. I dug him out of a destroyed base years ago and his systems were so badly damaged he could only run in emergency mode for a long time. His loyalty chip was equally damaged so we just cut it off completely. Metal was trickier but after the first fight with Solaris he was in an even worse state so we were able to disable his chip. They’ve both been running on rogue AI since.” She heard a scoff and looked ahead of them to see Metal Sonic running just ahead of them again, “Don’t give me that look.” She looked at Tails again and pointed to Metal’s clearly mismatched robotic arm and explained, “That’s why one arm is all robotics with no covering, he didn’t have an arm for a while. That one was made by someone else.”

“Yeah, sure, let’s just tell the fox everything, shall we?” Metal growled.

“What’s he gonna do if he knows, anyway?” Itara questioned, “You’re working fine now, it’s not like either of you are in a vulnerable state anymore.”

“So then… why are they working for you?” Tails repeated after a moment of concern, watching the scowl spread across Metal’s face.

“We work for _no one_ ,” Metal hissed, glaring at the two-tailed fox, “A time traveler is just useful to have around, that’s all.”

“We’ve gotten attached,” RK corrected, getting the blunt force of Metal’s fury in the process, which only got a smirk from the robotic echidna.

“Speak for yourself, Momma Bear.”

“Don’t lie, Metal, you care about her just as much as I do. Otherwise you would have abandoned her in Spagonia.”

Metal went silent, glaring at all three of them before his gaze fixed outwards, struggling for a response. Eventually, he scoffed and raced ahead again, leaving RK to silently laugh at him. Itara had gone equally silent during the conversation and half hid behind RK’s quills. Tails, however, watched the interaction with a heavy dose of confusion. The last any of them had seen of the robotic counterparts, they’d tried to kill all three of them. To see them arguing so amusedly over a little hedgehog girl was hard to grasp. But it did at least put him slightly more at ease about being alone with the robots. He had a feeling they weren’t up to anything beyond what they actually said. It was strange, but comforting.

The rest of the run was silent and they found Shadow easily enough where they expected to. Metal was nearby, tapping his foot impatiently, when RK ran up and let Itara down from his back. Tails flew in close behind and landed closer to Shadow to explain what he’d missed at the meeting and double check that he knew what needed to be done. Once Itara was firmly on her feet again, RK knelt down to look over her and ensure she could get ahold of him or Metal should she need them. Shadow and Tails watched silently from afar as the red robot obsessed a bit over the little girl, who assured him multiple times that she would be fine.

“RK. It’s fine. Really. If anything happens, Shadow can take care of it and if there’s anything _he_ can’t handle for some reason, Metal can be here in seconds. Not to mention everyone else running around the area. This is what we’ve been waiting for, I’m sure of it.”

“C’mon, Momma Bear, she’ll be fine,” Metal urged as he walked over, impatient as ever, “Let’s go secure that perimeter. And fight something.”

RK frowned and stood up, looking warily between Itara and Shadow before sighing, “Fine… fine. Just, be careful.”

“I will be.”

RK hesitated a moment before kneeling again and wrapped his arms around the little hedgehog, catching her off-guard. She stammered a moment before going silent and hugging him back. He stood up again, nodded to Metal, and they were off. Itara watched after them until they were out of sight, a bit red in the face, then turned back to Shadow and Tails. Her face only burned further when she saw the looks of disbelief and stuttered and stammered her way over, “Sh-shut up… Let’s get busy!” The other two exchanged glances before following after.

The energy in the area was so strangely chaotic that it was hard even for Itara and Shadow to make heads or tails of where it came from. As they headed inward, combing the inner forest in as much of a back-and-forth pattern as they could manage, the forest seemed to constantly shift around them. It wasn’t dense by any means, especially being entirely burnt down, the trees were thin and branches were sparse, yet they never seemed to find the other side. Once they got far enough, check-ins from the other groups stopped coming and Tails’ virtual map became nothing but static. They had no choice but to follow Itara and Shadow’s gauge about where the energy was strongest.

A monster or two would appear, seemingly out of nowhere, the further they went. While it was no problem for Shadow, it hardly seemed aware of itself, let alone them, it only served to put the three further on edge about the possibility of being jumped. Tails could mostly handle himself and Shadow was plenty powerful, even without the Chaos Emeralds, but Itara was mostly defenseless. She had powers, but she was no fighter, and lighting the area on fire would be more hindering than helpful. Eventually, Itara stopped the group to look around.

“Tails, get the reader out,” she commanded, to which he quickly obliged. Much like the backpack Itara brought, Tails had his own bag stuffed full with the equipment they would likely need. Since they didn’t know for sure what they would be facing, they couldn’t be sure what exactly they would need, so he’d packed for a number of possibilities. While he did that, she turned to Shadow and questioned, “Does this area feel different to you?”

Shadow turned to her with the usual sharp gaze but looked out again and nodded, “Could this be it?”

“If it isn’t, it’s got to be close.”

But as soon as Tails had the thick, square mechanical reader out, the entire area seemed to _bend_. The hard ground softened, the trees warped sideways, and the air grew heavy and sickening. The wind rank of charcoal and a light pulse radiated through the air, subtle at first but grew stronger and more frequent. They struggled to stay standing as the ground beneath them rumbled and swayed and a stabbing pain shot through both Itara and Shadow’s heads, sending Itara to her knees but got little more than a wince from Shadow. Itara reached up with both hands to try and stabilize her head while Shadow trudged over to Tails and his devices to start the reader as the fox was all but incapacitated by the swimming atmosphere.

The device clicked to life and the ground shook, sending all three of them and a number of trees toppling, a screech of pain echoed around, followed by a radical beeping from the reader. With a heavy _thud_ , a monstrous amalgamation of molten Biter and oozing Nightmare dropped behind them, its echoing scream of pain and confusion and rage piercing their flattened ears. Itara yelped in horror as she struggled to escape the creature’s claws as it lashed out at the nearest moving object.

The beast clipped her leg but she managed to scramble away from it, Tails was near to passing out, though, and Shadow was struggling to stay upright. The monster raved and bucked around wildly, its two sides battling for control of its one, melded body, sending it barreling forward. Itara ducked as it rolled directly over her towards Shadow, its four differently sized feet stumbling over themselves as Shadow dove out of the way at the last second. The monster crashed head-first into a tree just beyond them but hardly reacted and only bucked and brayed around in circles until it caught sight of them again with its three malformed eyes. Shadow squared up to face it but Itara could do nothing but try to crawl out of its sight while pressing wildly at the comm unit to call anyone for help.

The creature rushed Shadow again, getting a shoe to the face for the effort, which sent it crashing off to the side. But much the same as the tree, it hardly registered the hit. Itara screeched into the comm unit, getting no response, unsure if anyone was even getting their calls while Shadow scowled at the monster that jumped back to its feet and rushed him again. However, before it could reach him, a flash of bright, neon blue lit through the creature, sending it crashing back to the ground in halves before him. Shadow turned his scowl to the much taller robot, but had no time to argue about the kill as the world crumbled again and another pulse of energy brought him to his knee.

Itara reached for her head but another quake rumbled through the earth. The ground cracked and crumbled and seemed to tilt sideways as a much louder boom tore through the air around them, followed by a sudden, shining light that seemed to materialize right in front of them before surging up. Itara and Zero followed the trail of light, their eyes narrowing as two figures appeared within, their focus far above them.

_Sonic?_

_X?_

But with another pulse, the figures disappeared and their attention was drawn back to the earth as the boom became a furious roar. A thick purple fog rolled in and long, ethereal purple tendrils snaked out around them. Itara couldn’t focus on anything Shadow was saying as she struggled to not roll down the newly created incline. She crawled over to a tree to prop herself up against it to try and see what was going on, but once she stopped panicking, she easily recognized the tendrils surrounding them. The towering, glowing purple body of Dark Gaia rose far up above them and the several, furious green eyes almost seemed to hone in directly on the small group.

Yet the worst was yet to come. The entire area heated up to the point that more dead trees burst into flame. The fires spread quickly, but it wasn’t the light of the fire that burnt through Gaia’s fog or which finally dragged Gaia’s attention off the group below. Every ounce of color and certainty drained from Itara’s entire being as the light from before changed and shifted to become the golden light of Solaris.


	7. A New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two Gods, a shattering reality, and a portal...
> 
> Itara has a choice to make and it has to be quick.

Light bounced around and off the purple fog covering the area creating a sickening wave of unnatural shadows as Itara stared up in horror at the two Gods. Dark Gaia roared furiously and Solaris responded with an ear-shattering shriek. The long purple tendrils that surrounded them moved up suddenly and struck at the other God but were severed with a high-powered beam for their efforts, crashing, dead and limp, all around the area.

Itara’s breath caught in her throat as she pressed her back further against the dead tree she’d taken up residence behind, the lights of the fires burning in her wide, terrified eyes. She could vaguely hear shouting nearby but couldn’t make out a single word. She couldn’t even recognize the voices, let alone the words. As Solaris and Dark Gaia battled above and around her, the power source they’d been tracking reacted violently to the overwhelming presence. There was another pulse that echoed through her head, nearly sending her to her knees again, she only managed to stay upright by gripping the rough bark of the tree. The light from earlier dimmed and when Itara opened her eyes again to look frantically around, there was a distinct, swirling mass in the center of the area, just a few feet to her left. She could only feel its presence before but, possibly because of the Gods, she could now see the source of the anomaly… and she recognized it right away.

It was a portal after all.

And it was already breaking down.

Another shriek escaped when Dark Gaia jolted sideways and tossed several uprooted trees around, causing her to instinctively grab her ears again. He got up easily enough and a wide barrier stretched out around him to block Solaris’ incoming attack, which Itara realized had inadvertently covered both her and the portal. As the air around them went stale and static, the portal fluctuated and sputtered, weakening with another pulse, and Itara realized if they didn’t do something quickly it would vanish.

Their answer would vanish and she didn’t know if there’d be another opportunity. They had to act _now_. _She_ had to act now. With a deep breath, she looked around for the others. The ground was still tilted and half the forest was on fire, trees were uprooted and tossed about and several large tendrils were lying limply around, blocking any possible paths between her and the others. Shadow was moving an unconscious Tails further away from the battle but glanced her way long enough for their eyes to lock. She didn’t know if he could hear her from that far away, over the battling Gods and the fires, so she mouthed ‘portal’ and gestured towards the swirling mass between them.

Shadow’s brows furrowed as he studied it, but nodded. Itara turned her attention back to the comm unit, wondering if anyone heard anything or if anyone was headed for the area. She didn’t have time to think about it. She knew it was a portal. She didn’t know where it led, but she knew it was closing. And she knew this was the power source she was tracking. There was only one answer, so far as she could see. With a deep breath in, she pushed herself back to her feet, keeping a tight grip on the tree, and looked up at Solaris again before manipulating the strange shadows to create a ridge to the portal. It was sideways from her and she knew she couldn’t run fast enough to reach it without tumbling down the incline, but if she could keep the shadows solidified enough to reach it, she should be able to jump through. What happened after that, she would just have to figure out on the way.

With a slow, steady breath and another glance around, catching sight of both Shadow and Zero watching her, she gestured again to the swirling mass. She didn’t wait for a response this time before bracing herself, letting her hands crystallize in case she needed to grab onto anything, and darted for the portal. Dark Gaia’s barrier was deteriorating and the portal reacted by pulsing yet again. The wave nearly knocked Itara off her barely physical steps, but she dove for the portal and vanished.

* * *

RK could almost _feel_ the sheer glee radiating off Metal as his claws tore through several wildly braying monsters. Almost immediately upon reaching their designated post a horde of Nightmares rushed in, though their actions were more confused and panicked than outright attack. They hardly registered another presence before Metal was on them and no sooner had they reached the area than they were left, bubbling in goopy pools, halved by the grinning robot. In all honesty, RK was just as eager to get back on the battlefield after so long, to sink his claws into something again, but he was equally concerned and distracted by Itara’s safety, as well as the erratic behavior of the monsters.

Some formed directly on top of them, some came rushing in, others were wandering, confused, with no direction. Then there was the crevice in the distance that served as one of Dark Gaia’s retreats. They’d long since lost track of the Gods and Gaia was the most difficult to track of them all when he disappeared into the earth for long periods. Chaos disappeared similarly into the sea, but there was always a storm following above so it was easier to locate him. Solaris was a constant shining beacon, but with the sky in the shape it was, even Solaris’ shine could be difficult to pinpoint if he was purposely hiding.

But Solaris and Chaos weren’t his concern at the moment. The erratic Nightmares, Metal Sonic’s apparent bubbling bloodlust, and the possibility of Gaia’s appearance were his concerns at the moment. Luckily, the first of those concerns kept him focused enough that the other two weren’t a constant distraction. Or at least, they wouldn’t have been, if the ground hadn’t opened up so suddenly.

He’d been watching a Nightmare fly off after a hardy punch to the face with no uncertain amusement when a thick fog slowly crept up out of the far crevice and tendrils snatched the Nightmare out of the air, dragging it down under. Itara was right. Dark Gaia was nearby. He alerted Metal, who ran several miles east to cover more ground, and commanded him to keep an eye on the tendrils. No sooner had he sent the message than the ground shook and shuddered beneath him, nearly toppling even his heavy weight. The opening cracked and tilted, inwards at first, but exploded outwards as Dark Gaia’s long, snakelike body rolled up from beneath with a great, bellowing roar. An almost challenging roar, if RK had to guess.

He sent Metal another message then switched over to the other connection to warn the others but winced when his entire head filled with screaming static. He quickly switched back over and let his systems calm again before shaking his head and notifying Metal and Zero. He got a response back from Metal informing him he had sights on Dark Gaia and would follow from a distance, but got nothing from Zero.

The leviathan creature roared at the skies again and took off from his retreat, paying no mind to the robots tailing him, as he headed north. Towards the center of the forest. RK wasted no time following after.

‘Metal, get to the center, STAT.’

‘ _On it._ ’

Gaia left a hoard of monsters in his wake, which RK made quick work of, but finally seemed to end up ahead. His sudden halt hardly gave RK any reprieve as he realized Gaia wasn’t the only one headed for what he assumed was the power source Itara was tracking. Whatever they were after, the Gods had taken notice. The golden beam left a trail of fire behind as he moved towards the other God and RK pushed his system to their limit to catch up.

By the time he reached the confusion that had become the forest, Dark Gaia and Solaris were in the middle of an all-out battle; the area around them was almost entirely decimated, the forest was on fire, his circuitry was buzzing, and Metal Sonic was staring in distress at a mass of swirling, pulsing energy at the center of it all. Shadow was yelling into his comm unit from a distance, standing over a barely conscious Tails, getting no more response than RK had earlier, and Zero was making his way towards the obvious portal.

“What happened?!”

Metal and Zero both turned to him as he ran over, clearly struggling due to his frying circuitry and the wobbling ground. Metal frowned and motioned towards the portal, “She ran through.”

“What?!”

“It’s on the verge of closing, I assume due to the presence of the Gods,” Zero explained, his brows furrowed in frustration. “But there’s no telling where the portal goes.” There was no time to consider it further, and Zero imagined the time traveler came to the same conclusion, as the battle raged and the portal continued to weaken and destabilize.

“Follow her.” The firm command caught the two off-guard as Metal looked back at RK in confusion, though followed his line of sight when he realized RK wasn’t talking to him. Zero only stared in quiet consideration but nodded.

“I suppose that is the obvious answer.”

“Wait,” Metal interrupted, more concerned with the decision than either of them were expecting, “Shouldn’t one of _us_ go after her?”

“I don’t know if we’d even be able to,” RK explained, “And quite frankly we don’t have the time to argue. It’s not going to hold out much longer by the looks of it and we can’t stay in this area much longer. There’s a strong possibility that portal leads back to Zero’s world so it makes more sense for him to go.”

“But-!” Metal dropped his argument as his concern turned to frustration, then fury as he turned to Zero. “Fine,” his arm sparked up as he stepped closer to the taller robot, venom dripping from every word as he threatened, “But know this, if you end up back in your world and abandon the tiny child, I swear, I _will_ follow you and annihilate _everyone_ you care about. She’d better make it home. Safe. In one piece. Do I make myself clear?”

Zero studied him with no passing concern but RK watched with a hint of both amusement and reassurance. He said nothing but Zero sighed and put his hands up, “Fine, fine. I will do what I can to assure the return of your child, but we have no further time to argue over this. Goodbye.” With that, Zero refocused on the portal and Metal took a step back and lowered his arm. With a quick scan over the area, Zero followed after the hedgehog and disappeared through the portal. The addition caused the portal to pulse once more, convulsing violently and forcing the remaining robots to put a great deal of distance between them and it as quickly as possible to avoid further damage. Within no time, the area, the portal, and all the energy pulsed and crackled with one final, devastating wave, enough to force even the Gods’ further away. The others in the area had little time to react as the swirling energy dispersed with a powerful explosion that flattened everything around it. Solaris took to the skies once more as Dark Gaia retreated back towards his crevice.

RK and Metal were well out of range in no time and stood out of the blast radius to watch the shockwave crush the forest around it, taking the fires out with it. They gave their computers several minutes to reboot from the interference caused by the portal and the silence finally broke when RK let out a long, tired sigh. Metal glanced over at him, then back to the forest.

“So what do we do now?”

“I don’t know…”

Metal’s brows furrowed as he watched every bit of movement after the initial blast. Gaia was retreating south again and Solaris had vanished. He caught sight of Sonic running in with Knuckles a good bit behind. With the leveled forest it wasn’t hard to spot Shadow emerging from the downed trees with Tails in-tow. The four met up and the robots watched from afar, listening in on the conversation below them.

“Tails! Shadow! What happened?!”

“I… can’t be sure, myself,” Shadow explained with a quick glance around for the missing members of the temporary group.

“Tails, you okay buddy?”

“Yeah, Sonic, I’m alright. Shaken, but alright. We should get in touch with the others, though, tell everyone to return to the base.”

“Right. Well, the comm units have been nothing but static since we got here so we’ll have to find them to let them know,” Sonic shrugged with his own glance around. During his sweep of the area, he caught sight of the robots off in the distance and stared them down a moment before turning his attention back to Tails.

“I don’t imagine they’ll be far, considering the display.”

“Yeah, seems so.”

Metal shook his head and turned his attention back to RK, “Do the ‘play nice’ rules still stand with the tiny child off elsewhere?”

RK eyed him and heavily debated the question before sighing, “Let’s just tell them about the portal and then we’re going home. They can figure the rest out on their own.” Metal scoffed when he didn’t get the answer he necessarily wanted but reluctantly nodded before running back in to talk with the others. RK wasn’t sure how much contact he wanted to keep with them, but remembered Mira and Kelly would be at their base and realized they would at least need to keep up with some of them. Though he had no intention of actively working with Sonic and friends from this point on. He and Metal were going back to working by themselves until Itara returned.

* * *

The world was spinning.

She couldn’t make heads or tails of any direction and her vision was all but useless against the endless swirling colors. Her head felt as if it were about to burst and she couldn’t get a read on any outside energies to focus on. The moment she entered the portal she was dragged in several directions, unable to get a grasp on any one possible exit. Ultimately, one much stronger line dragged her in what she could only assume was towards an exit. She’d never felt less in control of her travel and had no concept of where in time or the universe she was headed. All she could do was let whatever power was strongest pull her in whatever direction it would and she would figure it out from there. It felt like an eternity of struggling, yet at the same time, no time passed at all.

However, as soon as she thought she was at least orienting herself again to near an exit, it all jerked and swirled again. Whatever had been leading her before split its path and threw her sideways. She finally just closed her eyes and hoped for it to end soon. She just wanted to be back on solid ground again. She’d long since lost her connection to the entrance. Just as quickly as it sidelined her, she felt the weight of gravity again as she came crashing out of the surreal time-space onto hard solid concrete.

Well.

She asked for solid ground.

She took a moment to stabilize her head, blocking out the sounds around her until her eyeballs stopped spinning in her head. She could feel the concrete below her, as well as a coming nosebleed from greeting it with her face, but was relieved to feel that the concrete was _cold_ , rather than the burning hot she’d been used to. In fact, the air around her felt completely different. It was thick with a smoky scent, but it wasn’t as stifling and hot as before. In fact, while she could feel the sun on her fur, there was a cool wind whipping around her. Did she travel to the past again? Before the Gods awoke? The sounds of a busy city slowly trickled into her ears as she released them from her head again. They shifted and twisted about, honing in on every sound. It was a city, alright. Noisy with chatter and mechanical whirs, but more importantly, concerned whispers. Right, she was probably lying on a sidewalk having just appeared out of thin air.

With a heavy sigh she pushed herself up into a sitting position to at least run a hand under her nose to try and stop the bleeding. The metallic taste was doing nothing for the growing headache. She could also feel gravel stabbing into the wound on her leg. The sooner she got that cleaned out and wrapped up, the better. But as she opened her eyes to get an idea of where she ended up, they only widened in shock and confusion. She didn’t recognize this city. At all. This wasn’t Soleanna. Or anywhere in her world she was familiar with.

Instead of mobians and humans, there were robots roaming everywhere. The city, itself, looked considerably more industrial than any she knew, almost as if Robotnik created it, rather than humans. A brief panic snapped through her as she considered the possibility that she had somehow landed in some horrifying future or alternate present where Robotnik finally won. There were no signs of mobians anywhere, only robots and humans. She pushed herself to her feet, despite her injuries and shaking legs, but stopped when the red gem slipped from her pocket and clattered to the sidewalk. Kipper was still with her. So was her backpack. She tucked the gem back into her pocket and pulled her backpack off to pull the black notebook out. Was this why her journal went black? Because she ended up in an alternate reality altogether?

As she flipped through the pages to reach the blank ones, a heavy crackling and snapping erupted beside her, causing her to cringe and cover her ears again. There was a round of confused gasps from those passing by but it was the _thud_ of metal beside her that caught her attention. Warily, she glanced up to see the displaced robot that had appeared in her world. Unlike her, he landed on his feet as the portal closed once again and looked around the city with clear recognition.

“Finally.”

Finally? So this was… she looked down at her journal again. The entire first half of her book was jet black now. But the pages that had been black before were finally clear and empty. Ready to be written in. Even as she stared at it, words appeared, like they used to:

_We’ve landed in Zero’s world_ ….


	8. Maverick Hunters

The city moved and flowed around them, bustling with life and chatter neither of them had heard in years. Robots of every shape, size, and color rolled and roamed through, hardly passing them a glance as they continued on with their day. The scattered humans here and there gave them the most of their attention, whispering confusedly about the strange creature sitting, bleeding on the sidewalk. They only returned to their days once they caught the sharp scowl of the robot beside her. While Itara flipped furiously through her blacked-out notebook and the newly appeared notes on the back pages, Zero scanned the cityscape with caution, trying to discern how long it’d been since he left. So far as he could tell from his spot, not much had changed. The city was lively as ever, though there was noticeably more caution in the gazes tossed his – and the rest of the robots scurrying about – way. Not that he was overly surprised. Despite what X hoped, the dissonance between reploids and humanity would likely never end.

As he turned back towards the time traveler to command her to get up so they could move already, a far-off explosion caught his attention, instead. Itara finally looked up from her notebook at the noise, catching the brief glint of a smirk on Zero’s face before he started towards the source of the noise.

“H-hey! Wait! Don’t leave me!” she stammered, struggling to her feet and throwing her notebook back in her backpack.

He stopped and glared back, but sighed, “Fine. But don’t get in my way. I’m going to take care of this, then I’m taking you back to headquarters so you can figure your way home.” She stumbled over to him, wincing whenever she put pressure on the leg with the gash, pulling her backpack back on. “I don’t imagine you can teleport here, can you?”

“It’s possible but I wouldn’t know where to go.”

He sighed again, frustrated by the delay but finally knelt down and motioned for her to climb on his back. “Do _not_ get used to this. You’re just slow.” Itara immediately glared at the memory of Metal saying almost the exact same thing but quickly obliged and climbed on his back so they could take off. He wasn’t nearly as comfy as RK – or even Metal – not with all the bulky armor, but it was better than walking around an unfamiliar world on an injured leg. But it did bring up a great many questions. Was this where the power source was coming from? She couldn’t feel anything now that the portal was gone. Was that sideline caused by his appearance? She was sure she was headed in a different direction when it changed so suddenly.

She took careful note of their surroundings during the run through the city, both for directional purposes and out of pure curiosity. The difference truly was extraordinary. In addition to the cooler air and lack of fire, there were so many robots, though most of them looked closer to Robotnik’s worker bots than Zero or even Metal Sonic. She remembered Zero mentioning that to her once, that there were robots called ‘reploids’ in his world, but he also mentioned something about ‘Maverick Hunters’. What was a Maverick? What were the robots’ relationship with humans in this world? Once her head stopped spinning, she fully intended to find out. Zero never answered her questions, now she intended to get her answers.

The run to the explosion took much less time than Itara was hoping for, wanting to get her bearings before they arrived, but the tall line of smoke appeared over the buildings quickly and before she knew it, Zero was putting her down again. They seemed to be at some sort of construction site and there were much more aggressive-looking robots attacking everything within range while others attempted to flee with the screaming humans. Zero commanded her to stay put, then ran right into the middle of the chaos, pulling out and activating the saber that had become a point of contention back home. Zero and Metal weren’t allowed to fight anymore after a particularly bad mash-up between Metal’s sparking and Zero’s saber. RK decked them both when they destroyed three of their four monitors.

Itara took the time Zero was fighting to step back and sit down on a nearby cement block to try and process everything around her. She pulled her journal back out to take notes, as well, knowing it always helped to straighten her thoughts out. The power source was a portal and she felt confident saying it broke down because of the Gods’ appearance, too much energy in one spot. Inside the portal was a mess of confusion, but she now knew it was because she was being whipped through dimensions, rather than time. Though, she wondered where she was heading before Zero entered the portal. She also made a particular note of Zero being considerably less tussled by the travel than she had been.

She looked up from her journal when the sparking remains of a robot flew overhead. Were these Mavericks? What was the difference between them and the robots that were walking around without issue? Was it design, like RK and Metal? Or were they attacking on their own? The longer she watched the battle, though she could only see brief glimpses of Zero darting in and out of her vision, the more it looked as if Zero was struggling with the sheer number of enemies. From what she could immediately see, there had to be upwards of fifty, though she couldn’t tell for sure. More were pouring out from within the half-built building every minute, but plenty more were destroyed on-contact with Zero’s saber.

However, before they could overtake him another robot appeared, one more similar to Zero in size and shape – though he was still shorter – and joined the battle. There was a brief conversation between the two that Itara couldn’t hear over the sparks and clanking and echo of drills before they focused on the enemies again. The other robot had a much softer face with entirely blue armor and seemed to favor the cannon on his arm rather than the saber Zero carried. The two of them worked their way through the attackers with ease and had the situation under control before long. Itara made note of this before nearly falling off the block she was sitting on when a massive, heavily armored vehicle rolled through, shaking everything around it. She could see a number of soldiers filing out of the back but the vehicle blocked her view from whatever was happening beyond that. She decided it was time to put her journal away and get a closer look. The battle appeared to be over so it should be safe for her to find Zero again.

Some giant humanoid robot with a captain’s hat shouted orders and the soldiers moved in but Zero and the blue robot moved out of the way to reconvene. While Zero kept his usual no-nonsense resting glare through the conversation, the blue one seemed especially ecstatic to see him again. Itara wondered if this might be the ‘X’ Zero often spoke of.

“Zero, where have you been?! Things have been absolute chaos since you disappeared!” the blue bot exclaimed, sounding more frantic than angry.

Zero’s face scrunched up as he muttered, “I never want to hear that name again…”

“What?”

With a brief look of realization, Zero shook his head and corrected himself, “Never mind. What’s happened?”

There was a brief silence before the blue bot shook his head, “We should probably talk about this back at headquarters but,” he motioned towards the goings-on behind them, “there’s been a serious increase in maverick uprisings, but that’s not that worst of it.” He looked around before looking back and resting a hand on Zero’s shoulder, a motion Itara half expected to get the other poor bot thrown across the globe for and was utterly shocked when it didn’t happen, “We can talk about that more later. I’m glad to see you again. I had no idea what happened to you after the meltdown, where _have_ you been?”

“We should… also talk about that back at headquarters,” Zero frowned.

“Right, right.”

By this point, Itara had crept her way to nearly directly behind them, listening in and studying the situation quietly and carefully. When the blue bot turned around, he nearly tripped over the tiny eavesdropper but managed to catch himself just in time. It still managed to startled her, though, as she toppled backwards with a yelp. “Oh! Uh… it’s a bit dangerous here, don’t you think?”

Zero looked to see what was going on before sighing in frustration and walked around beside him as Itara pulled herself back to her feet, muttering angrily under her breath. “Right, there is… another thing I must speak to you about. Back at headquarters. It’s related.”

The blue bot looked between Zero and the hedgehog girl in confusion but realized quickly enough that questions were best left for later and continued to lead the way out of the area. “Okay, let’s get back then.” Zero nodded and once again pulled Itara onto his back, a motion that baffled the other robot, though they remained silent on the run back to wherever they were headed. Itara, once again, spent the time studying their surroundings so she could possibly ask the correct questions later. Maybe she could finally learn more about Zero.

The three continued outside the city limits towards a large, even more industrial-looking, well-defended brick of a building. It had no neighboring buildings but a gate ran several yards in either direction and around the back with corner sentry points and two more sentry towers on either side of the thick, rolling gate. The bots approached with no trouble, even getting waves from the previously hidden sentinels, and a round of whispers about Zero’s return. The silence wasn’t broken until they were inside the building and another, similarly-built robot ran in to greet them, calling for X, but stopped short when he caught sight of Zero.

“You’re back.”

“Yes.” Itara was almost comforted to know he was as short with everyone, apparently.

“Welcome back, Zero. You’ve been missed.” Zero gave a short nod, which the other robot seemed to already understand as the end of the conversation and turned back to the blue robot, that Itara could now confirm was the mysterious ‘X’ Zero liked so much. “I was told to you inform you that the readings of that strange energy appeared in the city again,” he looked over at Zero, finally noticing Itara attached to his back, and muttered, “though perhaps you already know.”

X nodded and looked back with him, both seeming to eye her warily and causing her to avert her eyes and go red in the face. “Yeah,” he turned back and stated, “We’ll be in the office, keep me updated if anything else comes up.” The robot nodded, though didn’t take his eyes off the strange girl, even as they passed by and continued down a nearby hallway. Zero glared back at her when he realized she was getting him strange looks and couldn’t get her off his back soon enough once they crossed into the spacey office. X went to the desk and half sat on the front to look over the two while Zero practically collapsed into one of the chairs. It was the most at-ease Itara had seen him in the past eight years and apparently it was a strange enough behavior to get a look of concern from X.

“So, catch me up, where have you been?” he questioned again, looking over Zero before studying the hedgehog girl that was moseying her way around the office, inspecting everything within her three feet of view. “And who’s this?”

Itara turned away from the charging station she’d been inspecting to face him again, “My name is Itara. I’m…,” she looked towards the window as her face twisted with confusion, struggling with an explanation. Eventually she looked back, “I’m a time traveler and the daughter of a Sun God from another world.”

X jerked and looked to Zero for confirmation, which he did with no shortage of exhaustion, “After the meltdown at the plant, I found myself in her world somehow. A scientist by the name of Robotnik repaired me and insisted he could get me home, so I worked with him for some time. Unfortunately, I ended up there at a bad time because their Gods had just awoken and my return home was all but halted due to the destruction of their world. We had only just been able to come out of hiding when we found the portal that led the two of us here. For the short version.”

“We’d been tracking a power source I believed to be strong enough to face the Gods, but it turned out to be a portal,” Itara added, “but I don’t know if that power was actually coming from this world or if we simply sidelined here because Zero entered the portal. I can’t sense anything anymore so I can’t say for sure.”

“Whether it’s coming from here or not, the sooner you go home, the better. I don’t want your robot parents trying to follow you and wreaking havoc on my world,” Zero growled, eyeing her sharply.

Itara’s face flushed up and she looked away, muttering, “They’re not parents…”

“The constant threats regarding your well-being say otherwise.”

Itara looked up but then away again, her face burning as she mumbled and muttered for an excuse but couldn’t find any proper argument. X, however, watched the conversation in silent bewilderment. Not only at Zero’s behavior, but the explanation they both gave for Zero’s absence. Once the argument subsided, he took a moment to collect his thoughts on the matter and let out a slow breath once he did.

“Well, that’s… an explanation,” he breathed, reaching up to rub his head and gave a small, nervous laugh, “I’ll be honest, I don’t know how to take this. But I’m glad you’re back now, Zero. I’ve really missed you.” He turned to Itara and offered a small smile, “And thank you for taking care of him while he was with you. I know he can be hard to deal with sometimes.” Zero glared at him but Itara laughed.

“It’s alright, it was no different than dealing with Metal or Shadow, really.” X gave her a strange look but shook his head and leaned back, crossing his arms. Apparently, there would be a lot more to deal with than he had been expecting lately. But at least Zero was finally back. And perhaps the time traveler girl could offer some information about the strange energy they’d been dealing with lately.

Itara and Zero spent the next couple hours explaining everything about the other world to X, including Zero’s several months working under Robotnik where Itara learned exactly what the doctor told him about the mobians. She’d suspected some sort of ploy to make Zero sympathetic to his plans, Robotnik was a schemer if nothing else, but she hadn’t fully expected the extent of the lie. Though, thinking back on the sparse conversations between them, now that she was no longer panicking, it made far more sense. According to Zero, Robotnik had told him that the mobians and humans were in a constant state of strife and war between them was constant and ongoing. He even went so far as to claim all the attacks, including the monsters summoned by the Gods, were the mobians’ doing and that he and his inventions were working as a source of protection to the humans.

Though Zero began to suspect the lie after several missions into the cities. What Robotnik hadn’t realized was that Zero was actually from a war-torn world, between reploids and humans, so he was far more capable of recognizing the signs of ongoing battle than the doctor expected. There were differences between the mobians and humans, but there was clearly no war. The explanation made Itara feel a bit of a fool when she realized how badly she overreacted on the trip to Station Square. If she had paid closer attention, she would have realized how little his questions made sense regarding her situation but because she jumped to conclusions, she overlooked a lot of details.

She sighed in disbelief and leaned back against the wall she’d taken up residence near. Zero closed out his recollection of the events with a comment about the strange, protective natures of the robots of the other world, which only furthered Itara’s embarrassment. But once he was finished, he quickly moved on to getting an update about his own world and the ‘strange energy’ mentioned earlier. Itara’s ears perked again as she sat up to listen. This was what she was here for, after all. Presumably.

“Well, to be honest,” X began slowly, clearly still trying to grasp the story the two had told him. It was a lot to take in and process and he remained silent for several seconds to do so before continuing, “it started the day you disappeared, with the plant meltdown.” He pushed himself off the desk he was still leaning against and walked around to turn on an overhead display with a carefully compiled list of notes about the apparent event. “We finally determined the cause of the meltdown to be this strange energy that caused violent reactions from anything even remotely organic. It latched on to the chemical tested in the lab and… well, _boom_. That’s when, I suppose, you were dragged off to another world and ours was thrown into chaos again. The energy appears and disappears at random, with no traceable pattern, and essentially warps reality, itself. Like a glitch. Anything that comes into contact with it breaks down. Sometimes physically, sometimes mechanically, sometimes mentally. People have gone missing. Reploids have gone berserk. Entire buildings have collapsed in on themselves. Of course, it’s creating panic.

“At first, we didn’t know the cause of it all. Everyone just assumed it was an increase in maverick activity and it toppled the already unstable situation. It took me three years to realize the truth and, though I’ve been working on making the situation clear about the cause, it’s… still a work in progress.” The blue bot was visibly dismayed about this final addition, though Itara couldn’t fully comprehend why. Zero, however, knew the reason right away and his stern expression softened considerably. Though it was only for a brief moment.

“You said there was no pattern to the appearance rate?” he questioned, studying the hedgehog girl as she thought it over.

“None that we can tell, no. It’s popped up outside and inside the city, sometimes it’ll show up somewhere it has before, sometimes it’ll be somewhere entirely new and then never appear there again. Not even the timing is consistent, sometimes it’ll be hours apart, sometimes weeks, sometimes even a year.” X reached over and pulled up a calendar showing every date, time, and location the energy appeared over the past three years.

Zero scanned the calendar then turned his gaze on the hedgehog again, “Is this possibly caused by your Gods being active?”

Itara’s brows furrowed and she shook her head, “I can’t say for sure but… I don’t think so. I don’t see how even Solaris could affect an entirely different dimension like this. Time and space within our own universe, sure, but this?” She pushed herself back up to her feet to study the notes on the screen, “Can I take a look?” X nodded and stepped aside to let her look through them, though barely managed to keep the laugh down when she was too short to reach the screen. He grabbed the chair from behind the desk and wheeled it over for her, though the giggle managed to escape as he watched her huff and mumble angrily as she climbed up.

“Is everyone in your world this small?”

She shot him an icy glare before turning to the computer screen, refusing to answer. Unfortunately, Zero decided to answer for her and explained, “The animal-like creatures like her _are_ fairly small, but she’s small even for her kind. The other-.”

“Shut up! I’m not small!” Itara hissed, glaring daggers at the both of them before returning to the screen and pulled up a series of notes about the effects of the energy. Zero and X exchanged silent looks while she ran through them carefully. His description of the effects piqued her interest and she wanted to verify before saying anything about it. The other two sat in silence as she did so and after a moment she nodded and sat back, “Do you happen to have any photos or videos of these events?”

“It’s been difficult, but we’ve gotten a few distant snapshots of incidents,” X explained and leaned over to tap the screen, pulling the folder of photos up. “Any closer and the photos warp beyond even our comprehension, but from this distance we can at least survey the surroundings.” Sure enough, the photos were from a great distance away but the evidence was clear enough. It almost looked like a bad photo edit. Everything warped sideways and sheened with an unnatural coloration. It looked uncomfortably similar to the forest just before the portal appeared.

But what caught Itara’s attention most was the odd shape she thought she could see in a couple of the photos. It was easy to dismiss against everything else. She imagined, if you didn’t know what you were looking at, you’d likely never see it. But she’d seen it before. She brought the first picture with the shape up and asked X how to zoom. Once she did, though, she jerked back with realization.

The blocks.

The blocks from her dream. They were blurry and nearly masked in the odd colors of the photo but she recognized it. She pulled the other photos up in a hurry and studied them in the same way, confirming that they were, in fact, all the same. So that dream wasn’t just stress-induced, after all. But that still didn’t explain what they _were_. Or who that voice belonged to. She looked around the room at the curious robots watching her, waiting for an explanation, before shuffling back off the chair and over to the backpack she’d left beside the wall. The voice didn’t belong to the robot, nor did it match the one from the entranceway. Was it someone here?

“You’ve figured something out,” Zero stated, no question about it.

Itara glanced at him on her way over but said nothing and continued to her backpack. She pulled her notebook out and flipped through the pages to find her notes from earlier. But her description and sketch of the blocks were on the now black pages. She went immediately back to scribbling them but her silence frustrated the red bot as he stood up and crossed over to tower over her.

“If you’ve got something, you’d better let us know,” he threatened with all the usual bitterness Itara hadn’t gotten used to. Of course, she didn’t have RK or Metal to protect her from him now so she decided it was best to explain sooner rather than later.

She pointed to the pictures on the overhead and explained, “Do you see the blocks in those photos?” The two looked back to the display, “Do you remember the nightmare I told RK about this morning? The one with the _blocks_?”

X looked back at her, confused, but Zero picked up on her meaning easily enough, “They’re the same?”

“They’re the same.”

“So what does that mean, then?”

“I don’t know yet. But I told you this would be the answer! If I can find out what those blocks are, what they mean, and find the owner of that voice, I can finally solve this!”

“Mind filling me in here?” X inquired, clearly lost.

Itara returned to her scribbling so it was up to Zero to clarify, “It sounds ridiculous, and I didn’t put much stake in it at first, but the child often has what are essentially prophetic dreams. Though, I’ve come to believe it’s less an actual dream and more that her connection to the Time God is stronger when she’s asleep and therefore gets glimpses of the future because of it.”

“Even when my powers weren’t working correctly, I would sometimes get prediction dreams, so I always take dreams that stick out seriously. But they usually make a distinct sort of sense to me with very specific images, but the one I had last night made no sense at all. I wrote it down because it stuck out, but I haven’t been able to make heads or tails of it. But the blocks in those pictures, they were in my dream. Also,” she stood up again to bring the journal over to show him, “with my powers intact, I can keep track of the differing timelines with this. See this page from earlier today? This page and the page after have been jet black like the front half of the journal since I got it. I realize now that it was because I left my universe so my powers can’t connect to my past anymore. The front half of this book is filled with notes from the past eight years, but it’s cut off to me here so…” She flipped through several years-worth of black pages, “this.”

X’s eyes widened in shock at the journal, baffled by the kind of power such a small child apparently held. It was completely unlike anything in his own world so he was having a hard time wrapping his head around any of it. But he did at least understand that there was something significant about the shapes in the warped photos and that gave them more information than they had since the energy first appeared. With a determined nod, he stated, “Then we just have to learn what these blocks are. Can you still use these powers here?”

Itara blinked and looked down at the journal. Other than leaving herself notes, she hadn’t tested her powers since she arrived. She wasn’t sure. “I suppose there’s only one way to find out.” She set the journal down on the desk and took a deep breath. She would start with the easiest of her powers to control and reached for her crystals to cover her hands, happily surprised to see it work. She dispersed the crystals again and this time reached for the flame, the most direct tie she had to Solaris. It was extremely faint though and, instead of the blazing fire she called to cover her hands, she got a tiny, flickering light. She frowned and shook it out. That wouldn’t be of much use here. But then what about the timelines?

So many times in the past, she reached out for the timelines, reached for the threads and lines that tied the world together, and got absolutely nothing. She was almost afraid to face that again. She was still at odds with her powers, in general, but she had come to accept them as her own, as a way to bring the Gods down, rather than as part of them. She didn’t know how she’d react to being cut off again. With another deep breath, she reached out for the familiar strands in the void and…

Got nothing.

There was nothing but void again. With a heavy sigh, she pulled back again and shook her head, “I have limited control again and time is cut off to me. I assume because this is not my timeline. I’m not meant to be here, therefore my connection to it is non-existent.”

“Well, I suppose it’s better than nothing,” Zero shrugged, crossing the room to the desk to look over the pictures and notes, himself. “It’s probably best you _don’t_ go around messing with time around here. There’s too much that’d be too easy to ruin. The situation between reploids and humans here is extremely delicate and I’ve seen what your interference can do. In fact, it’s probably best you stay _here_ as much as possible. Mobians don’t exist in this world and neither do powers like yours, it could be disastrous.”

Itara’s cheeks puffed at the insinuation, but she didn’t argue. She couldn’t argue, really. This wasn’t her world and she shouldn’t mess with it any more than necessary. But she did have something to say about staying in the entire time. “I can’t look into this energy source if I’m _here_ ,” she stated, “unless it appears here, at least.”

“If and when it appears again, one of us will take you to look into it. Otherwise, _you stay here_. And stay out of trouble,” Zero commanded, glaring back at her to make sure his point was made.

She glared right back, but finally sighed, “Fine.” She was curious about the world, but she figured she could get plenty enough information from the others about it, not to mention how advanced the technology seemed to be in this world. She thought Zero would be the only robot like him from his world, but already she’d seen four. Were there more? Who made them? How did they work? She’d never been able to get much out of Zero in all the years he spent stuck with them. But maybe X would be more accommodating to her questions. He certainly seemed a lot friendlier.


	9. Maverick Hunter Headquarters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> X gives Itara a tour around the Maverick Hunter base.

Itara watched from her spot against the wall as Zero and X spoke amongst themselves. Zero was demanding to be put back on whatever watch he’d been on before he disappeared and, though X overall agreed, he was mostly attempting to convince Zero to get some rest first. There’d been some changes to whatever the ‘watches’ entailed and he would need to be updated before being sent out again. Itara suspected that might have been more an excuse than legitimate reason as X seemed more concerned with the other bot’s well-being than getting him back in the field. In a way, he kind of reminded her of Sonic. Just less infuriating.

Once the argument finally ended and they came to an agreement, X turned his attention back to her and offered with a more relaxed smile, “How about a tour around the base, then?”

Zero rolled his eyes but Itara nearly darted to her feet at the offer, “Yes!” The sudden movement sent her flailing back to the floor with a wince, though, as she looked down at the line of dried blood and gravel down her leg. “I… I mean, yes. That would be nice, but, uh… do you have anything I can wrap my leg up with?” She’d been running on adrenaline since entering the forest but now that it was ebbing away, the throbbing pain was becoming more apparent.

“Of course, let me go grab you a medical kit, wait here,” X moved towards the door, though stopped halfway there and looked down at her with uncertainty, “We keep medical kits for organic beings on hand, just in case, will that work for you?”

Itara looked up from where she’d been pulling the larger pieces of gravel out of her fur, “Oh, yes. I’m not mortal, but I’m at least organic, if that’s what you’re asking. I just need something to clean the blood off and wrap it up, really.” X nodded and continued out the door and Itara went back to tending to her leg, watching Zero out of the corner of her eye. He looked around the office for a short minute before moving to the window to look out. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Have things changed since you left?”

He glanced back at her before looking out the window again, “Not drastically.”

Always a bot of few words. Itara sighed and shook her head, “Are you happy to be back with X? You talked about him a lot.” Zero remained silent so Itara looked up. He was facing away from her but she could see the look of discomfort on his face in the window’s reflection. She tilted her head, “He definitely seems happy that you’re back.” His expression didn’t change, but for the briefest of moments, Itara thought she saw the icy glare in his eyes soften. Though that could very well have been a trick of the reflection because his expression was right back to the resting glare.

Before she could push the point further X returned with a small first aid kit and knelt down beside her, “Will this do?” Itara nodded and went to clean out the gash on her leg. There was even a small tube of antiseptic in the kit. “Did that happen during the fight earlier?” X questioned, watching curiously as she worked the antiseptic around her fur.

“If you mean the fight here in this world, no,” she clarified, “It happened before the portal appeared in my world. I just got clipped by one of the monsters from my world. It was a horrible beast of a monster. It looked like a Nightmare and Biter mashed together. It was awful.”

“A… nightmare?” The concern in X’s tone grabbed both Itara and Zero’s attention.

“Yeah, one of Dark Gaia’s monsters, we call them Nightmares. And Biters are one of Solaris’ monsters. I can usually control those, since I’m part of Solaris, but this one…” her ears flattened as she shook her head. “A-Anyway, it’s no big deal. I’ve had worse.”

“I see,” X frowned, looking off before shaking his own head and standing back up. Zero eyed him across the room, but decided to ask later. Once Itara was finished with her leg and had it properly bandaged and ensured X that she was fine to walk, she just might be a bit slower than usual – which caused Zero to roll his eyes again – the three finally headed out to start the tour. X led the way out of the office and turned down the hall towards the entrance while Itara did her best to keep up and Zero took up the rear.

The building, itself, wasn’t all that interesting. Long, paneled, dark grey walls, wide hallways, and light grey tiled flooring. There was a thick, metallic uniform door every few feet with a single small window. The only difference Itara could see between the stretch of doors and the one leading to the office was that the office door was wider, the window was larger, and there was a nameplate towards the top. She had to stop and wonder about his title for a moment, though. “Is X short for something?” she questioned, causing them to stop and look back.

X frowned and looked away, “I’m… unsure. I don’t know much about my creation.”

“Oh.” She looked away and they continued to the wide entranceway they came from. “What about Zero?”

X stopped to look back at her quizzically before realizing what she was asking and reached up to rub his neck uncomfortably, “Oh, no. Not that we know of, anyway.” Though he paused for a moment to study the now silent other bot before shaking his head and looking back to Itara, “Neither one of us know much about our creation. I know I was created by a scientist named Dr. Light and I know my name is X, but that’s all.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she frowned, looking between them, “I thought maybe X was like a model number or something.”

“It could be, we just don’t know for sure.”

“Hm, if Metal went by that name system, I guess we would call him Neo,” her face twisted as she considered it before she laughed at the realization, “Or would we call him Sonic?” The realization caused several minutes of uncontrollable laughter as she imagined it. On the one hand, Metal was _always_ saying Sonic was the fake one, but she imagined if they actually started calling him Sonic, he’d kill them all. Eventually, she calmed down and shook her head, “No, Sparky suits him best.”

X and Zero had exchanged looks, X looking to Zero for some sort of explanation, while Zero only shook his head about the ridiculousness of it all. Once Itara finally stopped laughing to herself, X questioned, “Metal is one of the robots you lived with?”

She nodded, “Yeah, his original name was Metal Sonic, but his current form is an upgraded version of what he called Neo Metal Sonic. He’s a robotic counterpart to a hedgehog from my world named Sonic. There’s also Metal Knuckles – who tends to go by Robo-Knux or RK for short – who’s from the same series as Metal Sonic. They were both created by Robotnik, the scientist Zero met, but they’re both rogue. There’s also Tails Doll, who I call Kipper.” She frowned and looked down at the pocket with the gem, “called…” She shook the thought from her mind and looked up again, “No one really knows Tails Doll’s origins. He’s a ghost stuck in a crystal that used to be attached to a fox doll fashioned after Sonic’s friend, Tails. We found him in an antique shop. He’s a brat.”

X watched her strangely but shrugged and motioned towards the entranceway. Beyond the massive sliding metal doors, there wasn’t a whole lot to look at. It reminded her of one of Robotnik’s bases, just less… _infuriating_. “Well, this is the main entrance. I don’t think I need to explain but if you ever get lost, this is an easy spot to find and shouldn’t be too hard to find someone to help you out from here. My office is a straight shot down the hall, as you saw. I’m not in there all the time, but if I’m here at the base, there’s a good chance you can find me there. Otherwise, feel free to wait in there for me or Zero.” Itara nodded and grabbed her notebook again to draw a map out. X continued down the hall on the opposite side once she was finished. There was more of the same for quite some time but at the far end was an open archway where a great deal of light was coming from, as well as the beeping of computers and the chatter of conversation.

“Down this way is the main computer and debriefing room. We meet up here before and after missions for updates and status checks. There’s always at least one person in here monitoring the computers and keeping a check on who’s out on the field,” he explained as they entered. The room was the most interesting by far. It was huge in comparison to the hallways, with monitors lining the far wall, a number of desks, computers, and projections, as well as empty seats all around the back wall. The chatter they’d heard was from the robot Itara saw back at the fight, that was commanding the soldiers. For how much Zero towered over her already, this other robot was monolithic in size and stature. Everything from the armor fashioned after a captain’s garb to the commanding voice that had only stopped upon their entrance told her he was definitely some kind of leader around here. Though she’d assumed either X or Zero were the leader, she questioned whether she may have misjudged their placement. Then again, if X’s office was anything to go by, she had to guess he was at least high up the ladder.

A long, questionable life of being on the wrong side of history made her distinctly more concerned about the intimidating robot before her. X and Zero greeted him with familiarity, but it did nothing for her automatic wariness.

“Welcome back, Zero,” the towering robot greeted, getting a nod from the robot-of-few-words. Just like before, attention turned back to X as he questioned, “I assume you finished debriefing?”

“We’re glad to see you back, Zero,” the other side of the earlier conversation chimed in. Another robot with a more feminine voice that sat in front of the largest computer with the projection screen. She had red and pink robotics and short blonde hair wrapped tightly up behind her. She also looked much friendlier than Zero but apparently that wasn’t exactly uncommon. As intimidating as the much taller robot was, even his calculating stare was less sharp and icy than Zero’s.

X moved forward to address the group, nodding to the question, “For the most part, yes. I’ll give you the details later but,” he glanced back towards the hedgehog half attempting to hide behind Zero’s legs – for lack of a better option – and explained, “Signas, Alia, this is Itara. She’s what’s called a ‘mobian’ from another world. Her world is apparently where Zero’s been this entire time, to give you the… _very, very_ short version. She may know something about the energy that’s been showing up lately as it was happening in her world, as well. They believe that may have been how Zero ended up there and how she ended up here with him. She’s going to help look into the cause and a possible solution while looking for a way back home.” Turning to Itara, he motioned towards the larger robot and explained, “Itara, I’d like you to meet Signas, the leader of the Maverick Hunters,” then towards the robot at the computer and continued, “And Alia, our communications head.”

Itara gave a slow nod as she studied the other robots. Everyone was too tall. She wanted RK. She wanted to be back on his shoulders, her neck was getting cramped having to look up so much. She was half tempted to climb on one of those desks so there was less craning to do while she talked. Zero, meanwhile, moved over to the computers to get updated on what he missed.

“It’s nice to meet you, Itara,” Alia smiled and turned to give her full attention.

“I’m glad someone will finally be able to clear up this energy spot problem,” Signas stated.

Itara mumbled an incoherent greeting under her breath, avoiding eye contact with the many towering robots, frantically searching for a vantage point. Eventually she gave in and shuffled over to X, motioning for him to get within earshot so she could quietly ask him to help her up onto one of the desks. He gave a short laugh before nodding and doing so, setting her on the edge of a nearby desk. She took a moment to recollect herself and calm down before opening her eyes again and looking up. At least it was a bit less distance. “I’ll… do what I can to help,” she stated at length. “I don’t know exactly what it is yet, but from what X has filled me in on, I should be able to figure it out.”

“So was it hers and Zero’s appearance that caused the reading earlier, then?” Alia asked, turning to X, who nodded. “Well, it’s nice to get good news from those readings for once, at least. What about the attack at the construction site?”

“Zero was already on it by the time I got there,” X explained, looking to Signas, “Apologies for leaving before it was cleared out, but with Zero’s appearance…”

“It’s fine, it was all just clean up by that point. Just make sure you fill us in on what you learned.”

X nodded and explained, “Zero and I were giving her a tour of the base since she might be here for a little while, but once I get her situated, I’ll do that.” Signas nodded and X turned back to Itara, “Ready to continue, then? Or did you have more questions?”

“We can continue, I have plenty of time to ask questions,” Itara responded, though sighed at the realization that she would have to get down again. Her leg was burning a bit, though she knew that just meant it was healing so she could deal with it.

X helped her back to her feet and turned to Zero, questioning, “Did you want to stay and get caught up?” Zero glanced back at them, specifically to study the hedgehog girl with heavy scrutiny before turning back and nodding. X turned his attention back to Itara and motioned towards the archway, “Alright, looks like it’s just you and me for now, then.”

“I’m fine with that.” Itara glanced back towards Zero while Alia waved to them and returned to the computers, as well. She intended to return to this room once they finished. It would obviously have the most information and she preferred being near computers. Then again, apparently she was surrounded by robots so it seemed wherever she went in this base, or even this city, she would be surrounded by computers. She didn’t know if that was comforting or not.

The majority of the tour, Itara realized, was mostly the same rooms and hallways throughout. She didn’t know what she expected. It looked exactly like a base full of robots. She was glad she drew herself a map because she saw herself getting lost _often_. There were really only two or three areas that differed from the rest. The first of which was a massive inside training area. They entered at the top, where there was a long, open hall that wrapped around the edge of the arena several feet below. The arena was empty at the moment but X explained that, if Zero wasn’t out in the field and she couldn’t find him, he’d likely be here.

The next location was an auditorium of sorts. A large, mostly empty room with a stage and podium at one end. Exactly what she would have expected for an auditorium. They apparently didn’t use this room often but it could apparently fit every current Maverick Hunter in their ranks. The final area was outside in the fenced-in yard of sorts. It was similar to the training arena in that it was set up with equipment of all shapes and sizes and uses, but there was also a small area she assumed was for relaxing towards one side of the building. It didn’t look particularly _used_. Itara studied the wide, barren field on the other side of the fence but wrinkled her nose up at the heavy industrial scent of the outside air. Despite the cooler atmosphere, everything smelled like factory and she’d seen no sign of a forest since her arrival. She wondered if it was just a desert area or if this was what this world was like.

“It’s very barren out there,” she commented. The look on X’s face told her that this was, in fact, not just a desert area. His brows furrowed as sorrow spread across his expression and he nodded slowly. For once, he offered no explanation. Perhaps he didn’t want to talk about it. Or maybe he didn’t know how to. In either case, Itara thought it best to change the subject, “You guys are different from the robots in my world.”

She could easily see the relief as he looked over, “How so?”

“Well, for one, you’re far too tall,” Itara stated firmly, getting a light chuckle. “But I suppose that’s because most of the robots with proper AI in my world were created by Robotnik with the sole purpose of fighting Sonic so they’re designed with mobians in mind, rather than humans. When Metal Sonic and RK were first built they were the same height as Sonic and Knuckles, who are about three feet. They’ve both been upgraded a lot over the years, though, so they’re about four now. Well, Metal is four feet. RK is four-three. Zero was a bit of a giant back home.”

“Funnily enough, from what I’ve been able to gather, my initial design was meant to be much shorter, as well,” X explained, “around four feet, if my files are correct. There isn’t much I know about my creation, but I’ve found scraps and pieces of design plans here and there.”

Itara studied him for several long moments, her eyes narrowing slightly, before closing them and turning away, stating firmly, “You should have stayed that height.” The statement got a good laugh from the tall, blue robot, enough so that it caused even Itara to open one eye and look up again, smirking. After a moment, she looked out again, “So… why is Zero such a grouch?” There was another snort from X before he let out a breath and shook his head.

“Zero is… complicated. It’s a long story.”

“I thought Metal was the grouchiest robot in the universe. Then Zero appeared and started glaring at me from Metal’s pouting corner for the next eight years,” she sighed and shrugged, “the only time his tone ever lightened up was when he was talking about this mysterious ‘X’ he brought up like clockwork.” She side-eyed the tall, blue robot to watch his reaction, mentally smirking when he stared off much the same way Zero had earlier. “He liked to regularly remind me he was only helping us because it was ‘what X would have done’.”

“Heh,” the hint of a smile cracked X’s face. Itara watched him carefully, mentally nodding, until X shook his head and turned back to her, “How about we finish that tour? Let’s find you somewhere to sleep while you’re here.” Itara nodded and the two turned back around, going back inside, and roaming down the repetitive grey hallways until X found an empty room. It wasn’t anything fancy. A small, square room with a small window to the outside far above Itara’s reach. There was a desk built into the wall and a foldout chair next to it with a couple of small shelves equally out of Itara’s reach. It had the same grey paneling as the hallway and a lighter grey tile for the floor, but was otherwise empty. Hardly the comforts of home, but Itara had slept in far worse places. X promised to find her a bed by the time she went to sleep and asked if there was anything he could get to help her get comfortable.

She only shook her head, “Just a bed is fine. I get comfy easily. When I first came into existence, I slept under heated stone slabs for about two-hundred years before I even knew what a bed was.” X raised an eyebrow but she waved the question away. That was yet another long story for another day.

“Well, I think that about sums most of it up, then,” X explained, crossing his arms to think, “If there’s anything you need, just let one of us know and we’ll do what we can to help. In the meantime, I need to go back to Signas and catch him up on everything. Did you want to stay in here?”

“Actually, would you mind showing me back to the computer room? I want to get better caught up on what’s going on here.”

“Sure,” X nodded and led the way back out of the bedroom, pointing down the hall as they walked, “the main entrance is just down the hall and to the right from here so you should be able to find it easily enough.” Itara followed as closely as possible, mentally mapping the hall out again so she could draw it once she sat down.

However, as soon as they reached the computer room again, Zero was on his feet and Alia was pulling up maps and several city cameras. As soon as she caught sight of X, she jumped to attention, “X! Good timing. There’s trouble in the city again, I was just about to call you.”

X’s expression became immediately serious as he questioned, “What are we looking at?”

“There’s a large group of suspected Mavericks. They’ve surrounded an entire block, meaning heavy civilian occupancy. Possible Investigator sighting.”

Itara’s brow furrowed as she remained near the door and crawled up into one of the chairs to stay out of the way and listen. Another attack? Like the one at the construction site? How regular of an occurrence was this? They all looked serious, but calm, a sure sign of experience. It wasn’t long before the tall, captain robot returned, demanding an update on the situation and Alia quickly obliged.

“Have there been any civilian injuries?” X questioned, his dread all too clear in his tone despite his attempt to keep it hidden.

“We don’t know,” Alia frowned as she turned back to the map of the city to pinpoint locations, “Zero, cover the south side street. There are less… possible casualties here. But be aware, nonetheless. There are humans _and_ innocent reploids stuck in the mix.” Zero grunted in response, but nodded. He reminded Itara _a lot_ of Shadow sometimes. “X, I want you to take a frontal assault from here. It’ll be the most heavily guarded but you’re the most capable of handling it.” X studied the map and nodded in agreement. “Once Zero clears out the southern street we can go in and work on evacuating civilians, but it’s going to be a tight situation. I need everyone on their guard to minimize casualties.”

X agreed while Zero simply stood and readied himself to take off without a word. Signas gave them a final word of caution about the ‘Nightmare’, which caught Itara’s attention, before they were both gone and Alia returned to her seat at the desk. Signas commanded Alia to keep him updated on them and informed her that he would ready the others for evacuations. Itara, however, took off after Zero. “Hey wait,” she called out before they could lose her. Despite Zero’s obvious eagerness to move out, he stopped and looked back. “Is it an energy spot?”

“No. Stay here,” he snapped and was out the door before she could question him further.

X sighed and stopped to turn back, “It sounds like it’s just a Maverick uprising. We should be back soon.” He turned back around to take off after Zero, leaving Itara alone in the entrance, filled with many more questions. Then again, she wasn’t used to the sense of urgency others had, being a time traveler. She often forgot not everyone could take the extra few minutes, or days, to explain things.

“No one has explained what a Maverick even is yet,” she huffed to herself and crossed her arms, deciding to go ask the remaining robot back in the briefing room. When she returned, Alia was already speaking to someone else over whatever communication device they used, though it didn’t sound like X or Zero. She was instructing someone else about the plan and how to proceed as backup so Itara sat nearby to listen. Maybe it was the team Signas was mobilizing. Were they the same soldiers she saw before? X said there was a whole team of ‘Maverick Hunters’ at headquarters but most of them stayed out in the field and that Alia was the main point of contact between everyone.

“Do your best to stay out of Zero’s way, but we need to get the civilians out as quickly as possible,” she commanded while Itara found a comfortable spot to sit, half under the desk, half beside the chair. “And please be careful of any innocent reploids, as well as humans. Not all of them are Mavericks.” So Mavericks were a type of reploid? From what Itara had gathered, ‘reploid’ was just this world’s term for robot with some form of AI, so what was the difference between the two? She desperately needed to know. She waited for there to be a lull in the conversation before speaking up.

“What is a Maverick?”

Apparently, she startled the robot, as she jumped and nearly knocked her chair over before looking down and taking a deep breath. “I didn’t see you come in!”

“Sorry. I wanted more information. But what is a Maverick?”

“No one’s explained that to you yet?” She shook her head. “Oh. Well, you see,” Alia looked up at the computer screen again with a contemplative look. It seemed to be a long explanation. “Do you know what a reploid is?”

“Your world’s term for a robot, correct? I’m assuming a self-aware robot.”

“That’s right. X was the first of us, every reploid was built based on a basic source of his systems. No one’s ever been able to perfectly recreate him, though, so he and Zero are amongst the most powerful. For the most part, we reploids try to live in peace with the humans and we do our best to sustain that peace but… well, no world is perfect. Whenever a reploid becomes a threat, either due to a programming error or bug or, in the worst-case scenario, a virus we’ve been unable to completely eradicate, they’re considered a ‘Maverick’ and are dealt with as quickly as possible. We don’t know the origin of the virus, but there was an ex-Maverick Hunter who became infected and has since caused a great deal of destruction because of it, including spreading it to an unknown amount of reploids.”

“So, it’s… faulty programming?” Itara wondered, curious and a little baffled.

“Essentially, yes,” Alia nodded and looked down at her again, “X has been fighting Mavericks for a long time now. There was a while where he and Zero were the only ones.” She smiled now with an almost conspiratorial gleam and added, “The two have been very close for a long time now. You may not be able to tell, but X is ecstatic to finally have him back. He did his best to hide it, but he was utterly distraught when Zero went missing.”

Itara couldn’t help the smirk that broke across her face, “Oh, I’ve noticed.” She thought back to the many conversations she’d had with Zero over the years and continued, “I think Zero also greatly missed him. He often used X as the excuse as to why he was helping us.”

Alia laughed and returned to the computer, “Sounds about right. X is a bit of a sweetheart when you get down to it. He wants nothing more than to end this war and live peacefully. Zero, on the other hand, loves nothing more than to fight.”

“I gathered,” Itara sighed, “he and Metal are too similar in that sense. Eight years in a relatively compact space with two idiots constantly egging each other on was stressful.” She rested her elbow on her knee and her head on her fist to stare off, “I imagine they’re both happy to be free to fight again now.”

“Metal?”

“One of the robots I live with back home. RK likes a good fight when it comes looking, but Metal goes out of his way to start one. Even though, and hopefully he never hears this, but I’m pretty sure Zero could beat him. He’s fast and powerful, but he’s also built more lightweight to achieve that speed. I’ve seen Zero punch things and he’d snap Metal in half. RK’s more suited to fight him, I think. They’re both heavy hitters and built for durability. But RK knew better than to start fights in the base.”

“So, you’re accustomed to being around robots?”

“Very much so. In fact, I’m more used to robots than mortals.” She shook her head and sat up straight. “But that’s irrelevant. Thank you for the explanation. I’ll let you get back to your work.” Alia passed her a quick smile and nod before returning her attention back to the computers. Itara watched her carefully, studying everything she did and said, watching the markers on the screen carefully until a wave of exhaustion rather suddenly came over her. Every ounce of adrenaline and curiosity had steamed itself right out her ears and left only the heavy weight of the day’s events. She glanced up at Alia, distracted by the goings-on in the city, then down at the space under the console.

There was no bed in her temporary room yet and she wanted to know as soon as everyone got back to the base. Besides, despite the years of sleeping in normal beds and couches and even RK’s lap, somehow, underneath a computer console – or underneath her bed – was still the most comforting spot to her. With her decision made, she pulled her backpack off and crawled underneath the computer desk, being careful of the wires that ran along the back. She snuggled up as far back as possible and fluffed her backpack a bit to create a pillow, which she promptly laid her head on and curled up in a tight, comfortable ball. A nice, hour nap was exactly what she needed, now that she was here. She had no idea how tired she actually was until she laid down but she was out cold in a matter of seconds, the world becoming a big, dark blur.


	10. The Gem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> X and Zero defeat HI-MAX, discovering a strange gem was the source of his power, and bring it back to headquarters for Itara to investigate further.

With a heavy, clattering **thud** , the massive, black robot crashed to the ground in a heap of broken robotics and torn armor. Zero and X watched cautiously until they were sure he was down for good before approaching the sputtering enemy. “H-How… this power… I held… such great power…,” the previously bragging Maverick muttered as the two watched over him. X shook his head solemnly and waited for the core processors to stop before stepping forward to examine the somehow undamaged gem embedded in his chest. It sparked and glowed with such an odd, magenta color and the closer X drew, the more it sparked. Even with the one controlling it defeated, it seemed as though the gem, itself, still fought. X withdrew his hand with heavy suspicion. “Alia, do you have a reading on this?” he questioned as he turned away to help Zero back to his feet, instead.

“Working on it, X.”

Alia had been correct about the recent sighting being another Investigator, a situation he’d had to explain to Zero on the way over. In addition to the energy spots that had been cropping up for several years now, a new Maverick group calling themselves “Investigators,” had risen. They were supposedly being led by a robot named HI-MAX – a robot X had been, until now, unable to defeat – and were causing trouble around a recently destroyed area from an incident several months back. They were after a new source of power from a currently unknown origin. X had his suspicions that HI-MAX wasn’t the true ring leader. It wouldn’t be the first time the mastermind hid themselves, but they didn’t know enough about the group yet to make any movements. For now, the best they could do was keep an eye on Maverick uprisings and deal with the Investigators as they came. Even if he wasn’t the true leader of the group, the fall of HI-MAX was certainly cause for relief.

However, during their fight, HI-MAX revealed that the source of his previously immeasurable power came from the gem embedded in his chest. They were finally able to bring him down by focusing on the gem, itself, but the fact that it remained entirely undamaged, despite taking several direct hits, concerned X. Just what sort of power did this thing hold? If it had been the cause of all this trouble, then perhaps it was best to seal it away. First though, he needed to take care of Zero.

“Zero, you should head back to base immediately to get repaired,” X frowned, looking over the heavy damage the red bot had taken. He’d nearly lost his buster arm, his armor was cracked through in several locations, and it was clear he was struggling to stand. However, Zero was nothing if not stubborn and shook his head.

“I can get repaired when we take care of that gem.”

“I don’t know, Zero, there’s something about it…” They approached the broken hull of HI-MAX, watching as the magenta and black gem sparked and glowed erratically. “I’ll wait here for Alia’s report and take care of it, you head back.”

Before Zero could argue further, however, Alia spoke up again, “The analysis just completed… the reading coming from the gem is almost identical to the reading from the energy spots.” There was silence as the two exchanged glances. “I would be wary about touching it directly.”

Zero scoffed and eyed the gem closely. X considered the suggestion, but before he could make a decision Zero made one, himself, “If it’s the same reading as those energy spots, then I’ve already been exposed to them several times. It doesn’t affect me. We’ll bring it back and I want that time traveler on studying it immediately.”

“Zero, wait--” X began, but Zero had already reached down and yanked the sparking gem from the center of the broken enemy. It spattered and jolted in response to his touch, but quieted after a moment. X watched him carefully, but Zero seemed as unaffected as he claimed. Zero gave him a slight eyebrow raise and all he could do was sigh in both relief and exhaustion, “Alright, alright. Now let’s get back. Alia, how are evacuations and cleanup going?”

“Smooth as you can imagine.”

“Good, then come on, Zero. You’re badly damaged.” Zero scoffed again but the two headed back out of the war-torn base to return to headquarters with the strange gem in-tow. Zero kept it a certain distance away from X, just in case, though the overly concerned robot wouldn’t let him get too far ahead or behind, ‘just in case’.

* * *

The world faded back in, slowly at first, with nothing more than distant mumbling and the faint blue glow of a darkened computer room. Itara woke in a haze of grogginess, barely lifting her eyelids before letting them fall back again in a refusal to fully wake. The cool, hard tiles of the floor and the comfort of the small, dark space lulled her back into restful dozing, with the soft echo of beeping acting as a lullaby. But her quiet rest was brought to an abrupt halt when the heavy thud of shoes seemed to practically appear beside her, jolting her out of her sleep with such force that it left her head throbbing.

Or maybe that was the bottom of the console when she collided with it.

In either case, she was awake, but it took several more minutes before she was aware of the two sets of eyes on her. The second startling revelation nearly caused another headache as she jerked back, narrowly avoiding hitting her head again.

“WHAT?!” For a brief moment, she forgot who the eyes belonged to but as they widened in shock and moved further away, she recalled and sighed heavily and dramatically. That was far too familiar for her liking.

“Sorry, sorry, we didn’t mean to startle you but… why are you under there?” Alia questioned, clearly confused by everything that just occurred, “and… _when_ did you get under there?”

Itara looked between the two robots that were crouched just outside the console and staring at her before averting her gaze and collecting her thoughts again, waking up more properly. Once she was collected again, she turned back to crawl out, pulling her backpack along with her, and stood up between them. “I was napping. It looked like whatever was going on in the city would take a while and I was tired…”

“Why were you… napping under the computer?”

“It’s comfortable.”

Alia and X exchanged quizzical glances before shrugging and turning back to her. “Well, just… be careful of the wires?”

“I am.” She stepped back to look up at the computer screen, mostly to see how long she’d slept. It had been a bit longer than she intended. According to the clock at the corner, she slept into the next day. Well, it made sense, she supposed. With a quick stretch out, utterly oblivious to the strange looks she was continuing to get from the others, she explained, “I’ve slept under a lot of computers. And between charging stations. I like being surrounded when I sleep and the smaller and darker, the better.” Her face twisted slightly as she thought about it but shook her head, “but that doesn’t matter.” She looked up at X, “What happened in the city?”

X gave her a brief look of concern and exchanged glances with Alia once more before explaining, “It was another Investigator, as we thought, but we did find something Zero thinks you should look at.” Itara nodded, pulled her backpack on, checked that Kipper’s gem was still in her pocket, and looked up to X to lead the way. “We put it in a separate holding area just in case it affected other hunters, follow me.” He gave a quick nod to Alia before leading the way back out of the console room, Itara following as closely behind as possible.

There was a brief moment of silence as X directed her down the hall past the entrance, but turned down another hall that they hadn’t covered during their tour. As they walked, he spoke up again, “Were you sleeping under the console the entire night?” Itara nodded. “Explains why we couldn’t find you, I suppose.”

“I didn’t mean to sleep that long, sorry. I guess I was tired from all the portal business… yesterday. There was… quite a bit of chaos before we went through, plus the travel, itself. It was a long day.”

“So I gathered. Zero was more worn down than he was letting on. He shouldn’t have gone out on that last mission at all.”

This piqued Itara’s curiosity as she looked up at him again, her ears perking, “Is he alright?”

X nodded, “Zero is the strongest of us all. He likely wouldn’t haven’t gotten a scratch yesterday if he’d been at full power, but he’s equally good at hiding it so we didn’t realize just how bad it was. He’s finally being taken care of now, at least, but it could have been so much worse.”

Itara watched him closely as the concern was so blatant on his face. There was more concern for Zero’s well-being than in this one situation. X almost looked as angry as he was worried, his tone turned sharp at the end of his explanation. She looked ahead at the long hall and decided to chance the conversation, “has something like this happened before?”

X only briefly glanced down at her but she could see every hint of worry and concern in his eyes when he did. For a robot, he was strangely expressive. Then again, maybe it was because he was modeled after humans. Humans always were the more emotional ones, no matter the universe. “Not exactly,” he finally admitted with a light sigh, “but it’s not the first time I’ve nearly lost him, either. Even before he disappeared to your world. In this fight we had enough people backing us up that it would never get that serious but before… for a long time, it was just Zero and I. Before, he….” But he shook his head and forced a smile again, “But we’ve got Alia and Signas and the whole of Headquarters now. Zero is just as stubborn as always, and even though things are bad now, it’s better than it used to be. We’re close to peace now, I like to think. Once we get this energy spot situation dealt with, things will calm down.”

It was strange, watching the drastic shift in mood throughout his explanation. He went from so angry and frustrated, to almost brimming with hope and longing for a nearing end. As if they were mere moments away from never having to fight again. It was… baffling, if nothing else. But in a way, she understood, in a way she wouldn’t have before. It seemed they both had a long history of fighting to survive, and they both just wanted to live peacefully with friends and family for once. She nodded in silent solidarity and looked forward again. “Then I shall do my best to remove this energy from your world.” He looked down at her again with surprise but smiled and looked ahead of them again.

“And I hope it offers you the answer you’ve been searching for, as well.”

She didn’t know for sure if it would or not. But she hoped. All she could do now was hope. But it did make her wonder how everyone else was holding out back home. Were they still fighting? Were the Gods worse? Better? The same? Had everyone that joined them on the field made it back to the base okay? She wouldn’t know until she returned. Hopefully that was sooner, rather than later.

They reached the end of the hall and turned down another, though it was much shorter and only led to a single, numberpad-locked door that X wasted no time unlocking in to let her through. The room beyond was as vast as it was dark, though Itara had come to expect that. There were a number of display cases throughout the room, with tiny, singular lights underneath each of them, and many strange artifacts set up inside. The only one Itara recognized was what she had learned was a ‘buster’ set up on the one nearest the door. It looked old and heavily damaged, but possible to repair, and Itara had to wonder why it was locked away in such a room. From what she’d seen so far, the busters were a relatively common weapon.

But that wasn’t her concern, either. For now, her focus was on the glowing gem just beyond it. It sparked with that strange energy that was causing so many problems and she noticed that X remained firmly near the door away from it even as he motioned towards it to point it out. That may be for the best, if it did cause all the problems they’d had so far.

She stepped forward to inspect it. It was such a strangely shaped gem, with random, curved edges on several sides, and a black stripe circling around it multiple times. The gem, itself, was a deep magenta and sparked with a deep red energy. But there was a certain familiarity to it, as well, that Itara took a moment to consider. She was sure she’d never seen such a gem before, but something about its color, the glow it emitted… it looked like… “The boxes!”

“What?”

“It’s the same as the boxes! The ones in my dream, in those photos! And that’s not all,” she stepped closer to reach up and pull it off the stand, “This is…,” her eyes narrowed as she studied the cold surface, the energy it gave off, the power she could feel inside. She knew what this was, “This is… Chaos Energy. This is from _my_ universe. But it’s not just Chaos Energy, there’s another power source behind this but… it’s so vague, like a reflection, or an echo.” She turned back to X, “That could explain why it reacts so strongly to organic material. Chaos Energy is the energy infused in all things in my world, it’s essentially what keeps life intact. It’s what gives mobians their powers, those that are more attuned to it.” She gave the gem a perplexed look, “It’s like a Chaos Emerald but… not?” She looked up at X again, more determined than ever, “If I can get this back home, we may have a fighting chance against the Gods! Chaos absorbed all the emeralds of my world, but if we have something similar, we may just- …but where did this even come from? How did it end up _here_? And what even is it? This isn’t a Chaos Emerald, it’s not giving off pure Chaos Energy, it’s more… a combination. I don’t understand.”

The room fell silent as Itara worked through her thoughts, eventually sitting down to write it out in her journal, though stopped short when she did. Her sudden jerk caught X’s attention as he edged closer to them, though still wanted to avoid direct contact with the gem, itself. When he looked down to see what caused her pause, all he saw was a blank page on one side of the journal, and a jet-black one on the other.

“ _Again?_ ” Itara’s voice broke with her frustration.

“You said this happened when you came to our world, right?”

“Yes, and those are still black,” she explained and flipped back through the notes she’d made since arriving to show the equally jet-black pages before them. “But this one wasn’t blotted out before,” she continued, slower, as she returned to the black page further in, “Does it mean… the same thing? Is it blacked out because I find a way home?” She stared long and hard at the length of note-space between her last entry and the black page, “When it did this before, it was several days before the portal actually opened so I can’t actually tell how long it’ll be before another apparently opens.” She huffed loudly, “I hate when it does this! There’s no guarantee about what it even means! The _first_ time my journal went blank like this I _died_!”

X knelt beside her as her temper only seemed to worsen, her body giving off an incredible amount of heat, and looked over the few notes he could see on the previous page. Though the final comment was what caused the most concern. He wasn’t sure what to say to calm the little mobian girl. He could only think of one response and thus, with little reserve, reached over and rubbed the top of her head between her ears as lightly as possible. He worried that it may have upset her further at first, as she jolted up and her eyes widened, but her shoulders relaxed after a minute and she looked down at the journal again. He could almost see the steam – and the heat, with it – release from her ears, which nearly got a chuckle out of him but he resisted and instead asked, “What can I do to help?”

She remained dead silent for some time, staring at her journal and the gem intently. Eventually, she looked up again and frowned, “I don’t know.” There was such despair and desperation in her eyes, it took him aback at first, but before he could properly recollect himself, her expression shifted back to determination again as she looked forward, “But I’ll figure it out. I have to. I just need to focus on what I do know for now. I know this gem is emitting Chaos Energy. I know this came from my world. I know the energy spots that appear can be forced open into a portal. And I know it needs to be removed from this world. I’ll start with studying the energy. If this is actually Chaos Energy, I should be able to tap into it. It should help strengthen my powers and then I can work on what I can do when I see just how much power I can get from it.”

With a determined nod, she collected her journal, put it back in her backpack, and stood up. “Can I use your training arena?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.” X nodded in response and the two of them left the room, X locking it again, but as he did, Itara remembered the buster, “By the way, why is there a buster in there? Aren’t those fairly common? Is there a reason it’s locked away?”

X looked down at her with surprise, then towards the door, and took a moment to work out a response. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you knew what that was, considering how long Zero was in your world. But that’s not an average buster. It was…,” he fidgeted slightly, his expression twisting to concern again, “it was modeled after mine, which has considerably more power than most. I can read and incorporate others’ powers and abilities and because of that, many have tried to replicate my tech but none of them have been very successful. That buster was the closest attempt. It can incorporate abilities like I can, but it’s only the one piece. My entire body can do it. But power like that can easily be abused if it falls into the wrong hands. We keep it here to reduce that risk.”

“Oh.” Itara studied him and his various robotic parts, then looked at the door, “I suppose that makes sense. Metal can do something similar, it’s how he attained his Neo Metal Sonic form, by copying Shadow’s life form data. Robotnik’s nearly destroyed the earth a number of times because of similar powers, too. If the world hadn’t ended when it did, when I was first created, I don’t really want to think about what he would have done with my powers. I’m lucky Shadow and Rouge infiltrated his lab when they did. Otherwise, I don’t think neither Metal nor I would be as free as we are now. Possibly even RK.” She turned back towards the hall and headed back the way they came, X following close after in relative silence. They both had much to consider.


	11. Shopping Crowds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itara destroys yet more clothes testing the strange gem and has no choice but to go find more with X in town. Chaos ensues.

The training arena looked much larger from the ground than when X showed it to her from above. It was designed with much larger, much more destructive robots in mind, so she knew it had to be large and spacious, but there was something about the towering walls, dome ceiling, and long stretch of floor that seemed to go on for miles that was a tad overwhelming. It was empty as they expected it to be, so she and X had the entire arena to themselves, though X remained back towards the door to watch while she walked around the edge. It took her the better part of ten minutes to walk from one side to the other, though she imagined those with much longer legs could traverse it much quicker. The room clearly wasn’t sized for mobians.

But perhaps that was best. She wasn’t sure how the test would go, if anything would happen, or if her powers may overreact to the gem. The more space she could put between her and others, the better. With that decided, she walked out a bit away from where X was leaning against the wall near the door and pulled the gem out to study it. She could definitely feel the power coming from it, but she wouldn’t know if she could use or control it until she actually tried. So, with a final, calming breath, she mentally reached out to the gem’s power.

Almost immediately, the Chaos Energy and mirror energy reacted to the touch. The gem sparked and gave Itara a light shock at the sudden activation, but the power source was familiar enough that Itara had no problem latching onto it. Her hands crystallized as the inner flame burst to life. She could feel her overall temperature rising, almost too quickly, as the rest of her body crystallized fully and flames exploded around the gem in her hand. But it was too much too quickly and she briefly lost control of both flame and shadow as the fire spread up her arm and scorched through her sleeve and collar and dozens of tiny, mist-like creatures crawled forward from the shadows, snarling and howling.

In her panic, Itara tossed the gem away with a yelp and fought the fires back down as the air around her heated considerably, turning the floor where she stood red hot. However, once the gem was out of her hand, the fire died back down to a manageable, tiny flame and the shadow monsters around the edges of the room evaporated. Itara dropped to her knees with a long, shaky breath, though frowned further when she saw the crystals had yet to dissipate, but figured they would eventually. Instead, her attention went to the gem that now sat softly glowing a couple feet in front of her on the floor. She hadn’t noticed the second addition to the room until the clack of heavy metal boots echoed behind her and she looked back to see Zero standing over her with narrowed eyes.

“What was that?” His tone was as accusatory as his glare.

She frowned and looked back to the gem before explaining, “I was testing its power.” She sat up and crawled over to grab it, but Zero easily reached over her and snatched it up before she could. “Hey!”

“I’ve seen what those fires of yours can do, don’t _test_ them inside headquarters,” he scowled, holding the gem well out of her reach as she stood back up.

“I wasn’t going to let them explode again!”

“Oh, so you _let them_ last time?”

She went silent as her face flushed up, “W-well… no… but…” She kicked at the ground before realizing her shirt was half burnt through again and reached up to push what remained of it back into place. She didn’t have spare clothes.

“But?”

X joined them and looked between the awkwardly mumbling hedgehog girl and his clearly displeased partner, “What happened?”

Itara looked up at him with a pleading gaze immediately and exclaimed, “The gem just had a lot more power than I expected! I won’t blow the base up, I promise! Tell him to give it back!”

X’s eyes narrowed in equal parts confusion and concern as he turned his gaze to Zero, who shook his head and explained, “Those fire powers of hers have caused a great deal of destruction when she isn’t fully in control of them. She’s blown out an entire back half of a carrier and nearly crashed it into the ocean in her _sleep_.”

“Hey, that… wasn’t…,” Itara frowned, but she had no defense. “Look, I have control over my powers now, okay? Come on, it’s been _eight years_. I never blew the base up back home, did I?” Zero eyed her sharply but she added, “That thing is from my universe. If I’m going to figure out how to get it and me back home, I need to test what it can do. Do you want it out of your universe or not?”

Zero looked away from her but X picked up the conversation in his stead, “Are you sure you can control it better next time if he gives it back?” Itara frowned and looked away to debate it, her brows furrowing, but eventually she turned back and nodded firmly. X sighed and turned to Zero, “Come on, Zero, you wanted her to get right to studying it.”

Zero’s sour mood turned on his friend now but only for a brief moment before sighing dramatically and scowling down at Itara, “If you blow headquarters up, I’m kicking you out, myself.”

“I’m not gonna blow it up!”

He eyed her for several long minutes before finally relenting and holding the gem back out to her, to which she quickly swiped it up and held it away from him, glaring. X gave an uncomfortable laugh before turning to Zero again, “Should you even be up yet?”

“I’m fine.”

“So you _say_ …”

There was a moment of silence between them before Itara broke it with a sigh. She walked over to her backpack, which she’d left near the door, and put the gem in it before returning to the robots. She eyed her burnt shirt with anguish and turned her pout to the robots, “I don’t suppose… there are any mobian-sized clothes around here…?”

The two looked down at her with blank stares. X looked off in thought while Zero only raised an eyebrow, “You ought to invest in some fireproof clothing. You burn through everything.”

“It’s not my fault!”

“Maybe we can… find some kid’s clothes? Somewhere,” X offered, though hardly sounded sure of the suggestion, himself. Itara’s face twisted, but she sighed in defeat when she realized that was her only option. Though she wondered if that was even an option, considering the strange state this world was in. Well, the humans in the city had to get their clothes somewhere, after all. Stupid fires. She never asked for fire powers, she was fine with shadows and time travel. She wanted to hurry up and get back home to RK.

After an extremely short debate between X and Zero, X agreed to take Itara out to the city to try and find something to replace the burnt clothes. Mostly after Zero refused to ‘babysit’, which Itara took a great amount of offense to. But before long they were headed for the entrance, after putting the gem safely away in Itara’s room. Zero followed them to the entrance but continued on to the briefing room while X pulled Itara up onto his back, since it would be faster that way. They were a good distance from the city limits and they wanted to be back sooner rather than later.

The run into the city was mostly silent, with X lost in thought and Itara busy studying the scenery. She wasn’t sure how often she’d be able to get out of the headquarters base so she wanted to learn what she could when she could. X wasn’t nearly as fast as Metal Sonic, but it wasn’t a long run, either. They were within city limits within a few minutes and X looked back to ask if she’d rather walk, explaining that the shopping district wasn’t too far away but would still be a bit of a walk. Though, when she asked exactly how far it was, she shook her head and decided her spot on his back was just fine. Besides, she could see more this way and her leg was still bothering her.

The city was still relatively busy, despite the recent attacks, but it was nowhere near the cluster that Soleanna used to be. There was room to walk without bumping into people and even enough space for wider reploids to roll down the sidewalk and only shift slightly should they need to pass someone else. But beyond the increase in robots, the far more mechanically-designed cityscape, and the smaller general population, it wasn’t too different from any other city back home. Tall buildings, wide, busy streets, humans and robots going about their day. Itara felt a little homesick watching it. Homesick for the world Solaris destroyed. The busy streets, the blue skies, the cool winds, the changing seasons, even school. She never thought she’d miss school, she was all too happy to see it destroyed when she did, but now…

She shook her head to focus back in, realizing X was speaking to her, “Sorry, what?”

He looked over his shoulder towards her then back again and repeated, “Do you really believe that stone we found will help fix everything? In your world and mine?”

She looked down and gave it several minutes of consideration. She couldn’t say for sure. She didn’t know what it even was, let alone what all it could do, whether it would really solve _everything_ or not. “It has to,” she finally mumbled, “There’s nothing else left. I’ve banked my entire world’s future on this being the solution, there’s nothing left _but_ this. It _has_ to be the answer. If it isn’t then… I’m afraid there… _is_ no answer.” She stared off, the pains of regret spread clearly across her face as she added, “and everything that’s happened will be my fault. Because I didn’t let Sonic blow the flame out the first time. None of this would have happened if I’d let him blow the flame out.” She trailed off and went silent again, lost in her thoughts, it wasn’t until X reached back to pat her head that she zoned back in.

He smiled back at her and stated, with no hesitation or uncertainty whatsoever, “Then you’re right. This has to be the answer. So now we just have to figure out how to use it.” There was so much blind faith and optimism that it sent even Itara reeling. She couldn’t help but wince at the realizations that it was _her_ blind faith and optimism that caused her to follow Mephiles in the first place. She refused to see him for what he truly was, despite knowing full-well what he was working towards, and it got so many people killed. X knew less about her than she knew about Mephiles and he was putting so much blind faith in her and it honestly hurt a little. In a way, she almost preferred Zero’s constant suspicion of her. He was right to be suspicious. No one should ever trust her that much. Especially since his world was in just as much danger.

“You’re…,” she started, but trailed off and looked away, frowning. There were too many people relying on her and this gem’s power for her to turn suddenly pessimistic. She _would_ make it work. If her optimism got them in that situation, then it was just going to have to get them out, as well. With a determined nod, she looked back and smiled, “You’re right. As soon as I get a change of clothes, I’ll get back to work on figuring the gem’s power out. I’ll… just move outside, instead. So Zero doesn’t get mad at me.”

X gave a short, almost sarcastic laugh, “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Zero’s just like that. If you’ve spent the last eight years with him, you should know that by now.”

“I do, he’s a lot like Metal so I’m extra used to it. But he’s also right. That gem had a lot more power than I was expecting. I know it’s coming this time so I’ll be able to keep it under control better next time, but I do have a lot of power, myself. If I’m not careful, I can put a lot of people in danger. The fire powers are still relatively new to me, at least in comparison to my shadow and time travel abilities, I still haven’t fully mastered them and there’s less to set on fire outside.”

“Well, if you say so,” X relinquished and turned his attention back to the street. Itara hadn’t noticed, but they’d been getting a number of strange looks during their walk through the city, from both reploids and humans, likely curious about the strange-looking child on the head Maverick Hunter’s back. No one said anything about it, but the suspicion was nearly palpable to X, who had, in fact, taken notice. “It should be obvious, I think, but we’re not exactly going to have clothes designed for… well, hedgehogs.”

“I would expect not,” Itara nodded, “But I can make alterations easily enough. There weren’t exactly clothing shops in Crisis City, either.”

X nodded and continued on, searching a city database to find the nearest store most likely to carry what they needed. There was a strip of human-run shops that was relatively close so he headed for them, actively trying to ignore the strange looks but the closer to the general human populace he got, the harder it was to ignore. Reploids mostly kept to themselves and went about their business as needed, but humans were more… _gossipy_. Strange looks turned to whispers, which he picked up just fine and it finally seemed to catch the attention of the hedgehog girl as she shifted uncomfortably on his back, her ears pressed firmly back against her head.

“Uh… I… can walk from here,” she muttered, prompting him to stop and glance back.

“You sure?”

“Y-yeah, we’re… close, right?” He nodded and she averted her gaze again. Before he could question her further, she shifted to get back to the ground without giving him enough time to kneel to let her down first. He winced when she hit the pavement with a light _thud_ and a huff. The chuckles of nearby watchers were anything but subtle as he turned to make sure she was alright. Luckily, the worst damage seemed to be to her ego as she pulled herself back to her feet and turned red in the face.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Continue.” He almost couldn’t help his own laughter at the short temper, but nodded and obliged, leading the rest of the way to the shops, one of which included a decent selection of child-sized clothes. They got no less strange looks once they entered the shop but at least there were less people inside than out. X gave a light sigh, though couldn’t help but laugh a little. Itara, however, wasted no time marching over to the children’s section, completely ignoring everyone around her. She was used to ignoring people.

However, by the time she reached the racks of clothing, a thought occurred to her and she stopped short and went red in the face again. She said nothing, so X wasn’t sure what was wrong this time, but thought perhaps it was the idea of buying kid’s clothes since she responded so vehemently to being called a child whenever Zero did it. “Would you rather look in a different area and just… size things down?”

“What?” She turned back towards him, confused, but realized and shook her head, “Oh, no… that’s not….” With a sigh, she reached up to grab her ear, “I… it’s just that I… well, I don’t exactly… _have money_. I’m not… from here, after all and….”

“Oh,” X laughed and waved the thought away, “don’t worry about it. I can get you what you need.”

“I… are you sure? I can… pay you back… somehow?”

“You’re helping fix our world, I can buy you an outfit. Just… try not to burn this one.”

Itara laughed nervously and looked away, rubbing the back of her head, “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try.” X nodded and the two turned back to the racks of clothing to look for something that may fit. With some alterations. She walked up and down the aisles and looked over the entire selection before reaching up to grab a couple hangers to take a closer look. However, when she nearly toppled the entire rack on top of her, X had to jump in to save both her and the rack and suggested maybe leaving grabbing the clothes to him. She conceded easily enough and pointed out a couple items she was interested in before searching for a dressing area to try them on to see what would be the easiest to alter.

The lady at the counter of the dressing area looked the two up and down with heavy suspicion before handing the key to one of the rooms to Itara. “What kind of reploid are _you_?” she questioned, though Itara only stared up at her blinking at first.

“What? OH, uh,” she stammered and looked to X with confusion. Would it be easier to just let people assume she was some kind of strange robot? They wouldn’t exactly know what mobians were, but she didn’t exactly _look_ robotic, either, which the robots of their world very much did. They hadn’t discussed this possibility at all and she wasn’t sure what answer would cause the least trouble. X’s face twisted up with mirrored confusion as he looked off to search for the answer.

“She’s… uh… a new series we’re working on,” X struggled, reaching for some explanation when one hit him, “in an attempt to replicate certain species of extinct animals. It’s an environmental series.” Itara gave him a bewildered look, mostly to the idea that hedgehogs were extinct, but the lady at the counter seemed to have bought the excuse as her expression changed entirely. Instead of suspicion, her eyes brightened and Itara took the hint to vacate the area immediately and darted for the dressing room. Of course, she tripped over her own feet in her attempt to spin and run for it, which caused a resounding _thump_ in the hallway and drew attention back to her.

The lady turned back to her and chuckled, but returned her attention to X to suggest, “I think the balancing needs a bit of fixing.”

X reached up to rub his head and look away, muttering a small ‘yeah’ while Itara stormed her way back to the dressing room. Stupid feet! She could hear the lady continuing to question X about the ‘new series’ but sighed and ignored it to hide away in the changing room. Once she had the clothes set on the little bench, she took a minute to take a deep breath and rub her nose. Now she really wanted RK. But she didn’t want to spend too long in the city, she had work to do with that gem, so she turned her attention back to the clothes. She tried the few items she’d picked in different combinations to see what suited her best and eventually decided on the tank top and overall shorts. It was probably best to avoid dresses for the time being, even if they were the easiest to alter. Plus, the shorts and lack of sleeves would be easier to _not_ light on fire. She hoped.

With her decision made, she pulled her old clothes back on but stopped when she realized Kipper’s gem was missing from her pocket. A short curse escaped as she scoured the changing room for the gem but moved to the hallway when she didn’t find it. She tried reaching out to its aura in hopes of finding a trace, but got nothing and instead, the commotion from the store front grabbed her attention away from the search. The desk that had previously only been occupied by a single human woman and X was now swarmed by a crowd that she could only vaguely see X in the center of. Her ears pressed firmly against her head as she attempted to back away down the hall to disappear in a shadow, but that lasted no longer than a single step when the crowd all refocused on her.

A chill ran down her spines at the sudden attention but X fought his way back to the front of the crowd to try and wave them down. “Everyone, please, you’ll have an opportunity to see the new series when they’re fully released,” he cried out over the crowd, though they hardly paid him any mind now that the apparent source of their interest appeared. Itara’s spines bristled at the realization as she fought to keep the crystals down. The hallway was a dead-end. She had two options for escape: run into one of the changing rooms and hope she had enough access to her powers that she could teleport through the shadows… or go through the crowd. Her fight or flight response was desperately begging her to fight, but that would only worsen the situation, she imagined. Normally, scaring people away was her main tactic, but considering the tension between humans and reploids in this world, if she went on the offensive it could make that worse, since they believed her to be a reploid.

Maybe she could… indulge their curiosity?

Would that be the easiest way without a fight? But she needed to find Kipper’s gem! She didn’t know when she dropped it! She glanced around and, upon seeing no sign of it, sighed heavily and slowly edged towards the front of the store again. At least X wasn’t far away so she could wave him down easily, but she kept him between her and the crowd. “What do they want?” she whispered once she reached him.

“I may have made a mistake with my explanation,” X admitted with an uncomfortable cringe.

The two looked back at the eager, waiting crowd, and Itara sighed heavily, “If we satisfy their curiosity, what are the chances we can make an escape?”

“It’s a possibility. Maybe I can call in backup. Just be careful what you say.”

Itara nodded and, with X’s help, climbed up onto the desk to get a better view of the crowd. While she pulled her notebook out of her backpack to check her notes to see if anything would help, X turned his back to radio into headquarters. She heard him quietly inform Alia that he was in need of backup, but almost laughed when he specifically said not to send Zero. No doubt, Zero would make the situation that much worse. But she was in luck as it seemed her journal offered a small note of ‘ _do NOT use your fire powers!_ ’. Thanks, future self. As if that wasn’t obvious. Though it did look as though there was the start of another note that never finished. She didn’t have time to consider why, though, as the crowd desperately wanted her attention and started asking questions instead of waiting for her to address them. Well, at least she was a decent actor. Though her specialty was one-on-one, not large groups of people she didn’t even know in a situation she barely understood.

Hopefully X would be able to answer anything she couldn’t.

At least the first question was one she could answer easily: “Is that really what hedgehogs looked like?!”

She put her journal away and sat down cross-legged on top of the desk to face them, “Yes. At least, hedgehogs of my breed. We come in a lot of different colors and our spines can vary a great deal, but we are this general shape and size.” They didn’t need to know she was outlier in terms of both spine coloration and height.

“You don’t look like a reploid. You look too organic.”

“Like I said before,” X cut in, having finished his conversation with Alia, “it’s a new series we’re working on to replicate extinct animals. It’s important for them to look as organic as possible.”

“Why are you clothes shopping?”

Itara blinked and looked down, unsure how to answer that. Was it not obvious that her clothes were ruined? Then again, it occurred to her that not all mobians even wore clothes at all. Sonic, Tails, even Shadow, most of the time they only wore shoes and gloves. But she, Mira, and Kelly all wore clothes – even if it seemed like Kelly would rather not half the time. She didn’t know how to explain this and just shrugged, “I like clothes?”

“You look soft, can I pet you?”

She wasn’t even sure who asked it but her ears flattened at the question, “I… I guess?” She wished that was the first time she’d heard that question, but quite frankly Lynda was always trying to pet her for whatever reason. It was weird, but she’d grown used to it. The lady that had originally been behind the desk strolled up with a couple others that wore matching uniforms, suggesting they were also employees of the store, and reached out to cautiously pat her head. The desk lady’s eyes widened when she realized just how soft the ‘hedgehog reploid’ actually was and more enthusiastically pet between her ears. Itara’s spines bristled at first but relaxed after a minute when she realized they weren’t going to hurt her. Though, the enthusiasm from one lady quickly spread to others as it seemed like half the store suddenly wanted to pet her and she wanted nothing more than to hide. Exclamations of ‘so soft!’ and ‘I’ve never seen a soft reploid before!’ echoed around as Itara looked desperately to X for help. She just wanted to get her clothes, find Kipper’s gem, and escape.

She wasn’t sure if her prayers were answered or rejected when ‘backup’ finally burst through the door in the shape of an on-edge, ready-to-fight Zero, calling for X. X sighed dramatically and Itara nearly fell off the desk at the sudden noise as the rest of the shop burst into terrified screams and ducked for cover. The crowd’s confusion spread to Zero as he looked around the store before realizing the situation was not nearly so dire as he had expected and straightened his posture, reaching up to grab the bridge of his nose.

“X. Please explain what is going on,” he grumbled in an attempt to hide his embarrassment.

The crowd looked between the two Maverick Hunters when they finally realized they weren’t in immediate danger.

“Uh, you see,” X stammered, giving a bit of a guilty smile, “there was a… misunderstanding?”

“Clearly.”

Itara took the brief moment of attention being off her to jump back down from the desk, though fell back against it when she landed, which pulled X’s attention back to her. She shook her head and scrambled to her feet, collecting the outfit she wanted, and it took it to one of the cowering store employees, “I need this please.”

Luckily, Zero’s presence was enough to dissuade most of the crowd to continue their questioning as he and X had no further problems herding everyone that wasn’t a shopper or employee out the door. Meanwhile, Itara followed the dazed and confused shop employee to one of the registers to ring up the outfit she’d chosen. The original lady they spoke to disappeared somewhere in the back but one of the other employees approached Itara while she was waiting.

“Are you a Maverick Hunter, as well?”

Itara nearly laughed at the question but shook her head, “Not even remotely. I’m a terrible fighter.”

“What all can a hedgehog do, then?”

Once again, Itara wasn’t all that sure how to respond. Her powers were distinctly different from most hedgehogs, even most mobians. When the other employee gave her the price for her outfit, she took the distraction and ran back to X and Zero. Well, walked. She had enough tripping for the day. X was quietly trying to explain the situation to the clearly frustrated Zero when she walked up and the red bot turned a sharp eye on her as soon as she approached. She flushed up and kept her eyesight on X to tell him about the cost. He looked equally as relieved to have an out from the conversation and joined her back at the register.

They got the outfit paid for and scurried back out of the shop, though it wasn’t until they were halfway down the road that Itara remembered her other problem, “Kipper!”

“That doll?” Zero questioned, his mood no more improved since leaving the store.

“Yes! His gem fell out of my pocket but I don’t know when!”

Zero sighed and reached up to rub the bridge of his nose again in frustration, “I can’t leave you alone, can I?”

“Hey, I was with X…,” she mumbled, but turned back towards the store to look around the entrance to see if she could at least feel the gem. Her panic only worsened when she saw no sign of it. Was it possible she lost it back at the base? When her shirt burnt? What if she lost him on the walk or run to the city? What if she didn’t find him before the portal appeared again?!

Without realizing it, her spines were crystallizing again but X walked over and pointed it out before they could get far, “Hey, calm down. We just have to retrace our steps, right?”

“But…,” she frowned, but sighed and nodded, “Yeah… right.”

“Come on, let’s check the store first, then walk back through the street to see if we can spot it.”

Itara nodded and the two headed back towards the store, with a frustrated but silent Zero trailing close behind them. He wasn’t letting them out of his sight until they returned to base now. X was too naïve for his own good sometimes and the time traveler was walking trouble. He would have to keep them out of trouble until she went back home, apparently. He didn’t think she could possibly cause trouble with a simple shopping trip, but he was beginning to understand why the two mobian robots were always on top of everything she did. Trouble followed her like a shadow.


	12. Wreckage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kipper is nowhere to be found and Itara is having visions...

The walk back to Maverick Hunter Headquarters was a much longer, more arduous process than the run to the city. The three of them combed every square inch of ground between the shop and the base without finding a sign of the red gem. Zero remained mostly unaffected by the loss, and while X showed concern, it was Itara who was the most clearly heartbroken – if not panicked – about it. She tried to keep her mood from showing, though, and kept to her search once they returned, hoping that the gem was simply dropped in the training area and had never left the base to begin with. She could deal with all the panic leading to nothing rather than losing Kipper in a world she may never find him in again.

Unfortunately, the gem didn’t seem to be anywhere at the base either and Itara was forced to accept the loss for the time being. Perhaps he would show up somewhere again. X promised to have the other hunters keep an eye out for the broken red gem, but in the meantime, she needed to focus on a different gem. She briefly worried that Kipper would cause trouble in the world but figured he wouldn’t have enough power to activate, if he managed to attach to anything in the first place. More than likely, he would simply remain lost in an unfamiliar world.

She was half tempted to call it karma for tricking her.

But that was a concern for later. She returned to her room alone to grab the strange striped gem and change clothes, then followed her written map to find the outside training area again. X and Zero disappeared into the briefing room after she assured them that she was fine on her own. There were a handful of other hunters roaming about the base now, though none of them bothered her and she found the outside with little trouble. Once there, she gave another quick look over her journal, finding a note about not sleeping under the console and stopped to debate it. Well, she had considered it, even though there was a bed in her designated room now. But that was also a concern for later.

She headed to the far side of the yard, as far from the base as possible, and got right to tapping into the power of the gem on different levels. Her first attempt nearly melted the nearby fence but at least she was on dirt and couldn’t light anything on fire. Hunters came and went on the training ground, all casting her long, wary looks, but none interrupted her so she hardly noticed. Her focus was entirely on the strange gem and carefully meshing its energies with her own. She managed to fully summon one of her crystal Biters, one much larger than her normal abilities would have allowed, and just as easily manipulated nearby shadows. She still struggled to keep the flame under control and would have to release everything again to avoid burning through her brand-new clothes regularly, but she was definitely making progress.

* * *

At some point, she wasn’t sure when it happened, the day gave way to night. She was still outside working with her flames when X exited the building and crossed over to her. He nearly got engulfed in flames when he reached her, as she hadn’t noticed him approaching, but she managed to redirect them towards the fence at the last minute.

“D-Don’t scare me like that!” she yelled, frantic and breathing heavily.

The hunter threw his hands up in defense and gave a guilty smile, “Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to see if you’d made any progress.”

Itara took a deep breath and calmed her powers, letting it out before looking up again, though looked around in confusion, “When did it get dark?”

“About two hours ago.”

“…Oh.”

“Been that focused, huh?”

“I need to figure this out and the sooner, the better.” She went silent for a moment before looking up again, “Did… anyone happen to find Kipper’s gem yet?”

X frowned and shook his head, “No, I’m sorry, not yet. But I’m sure it’ll turn up.”

Itara gave a small sigh but nodded and looked down at the gem again, “Well, as for my progress: it’s going a lot better than earlier. I can control it to a certain degree but there’s a _lot_ of power in this thing.” To demonstrate, she pulled the gem back up and touched just a small portion of its energy, summoning a large purple, glowing, crystal Biter. X stared over at it in baffled, wary confusion. “This is much larger than I’ve ever been able to summon before, even before my powers were halved, and this is such a small portion. I…,” she trailed off as the realization hit her, “I think, if I were able to tap into its full potential – and this is entirely conjecture on my part but – I could be nearly as strong as my dad.” She stared off as she considered the possibilities but shook her head violently after a moment and refocused. X watched her cautiously when she did. “That’s just my working theory, though. I’d never be able to test that kind of power. Not here. But it does mean there’s a good chance I can use it to get back home.”

“Good, that’s good to hear,” X stated, though a bit slowly. There was a moment of tense silence before Itara dispelled the Biter and X shook his head, his tone lightening again, “It’s getting late, though. You’ve got to be hungry, right?”

Itara blinked. Now that he mentioned it, she was starving. She hadn’t eaten since… yesterday? Was that yesterday? She wasn’t actually sure anymore. “I, uh… yeah,” she muttered as X crouched down and held out a small bag he’d been holding behind his back.

“I asked one of the other hunters that was still in the city to bring something edible back for you, after Zero confirmed that mobians could eat normal food, of course. I wasn’t sure what you liked, though, so I hope it’s suitable.”

Itara stared wide-eyed at the bag a moment before reaching up to take it, “Th-thank you.” Just at a quick glance, she could see pre-made sandwich slices, a canned drink of some description, and a bag of some sort of dry snack food. Really, compared to the scraps she’d gotten used to eating in the variety of different apocalypses she’d lived through, the bag of essentially convenient store foods was a feast. Of course, RK cooked actual food for her during those few short months of Solaris being inactive, but compared to the over two-hundred years of Crisis City, it hardly made a dent in her habits.

X was called away again before long, leaving Itara to sit and eat by herself, which she was honestly fine with. She tucked the gem back into her backpack and set up at the small rest area near the building, eating her food and taking notes on everything she learned while testing the gem. It was quiet for the most part. The other Hunters that had been out earlier had all gone back inside, leaving her alone with the wind and dusty grey night sky. She flipped through the blackened pages in the front of her book with a solemn frown. She missed RK and Metal. X was nice and Zero she had gotten used to. But she wanted _her_ robots. More than anything, she missed being able to crawl up into RK’s lap after an especially frustrating day. She’d only been away from them for a couple days and she already disliked it.

With a deep, heavy sigh, she flipped her notebook back to the current date, pulling the gem out and setting it beside her. The note from earlier about not using her powers at the shop finally finished itself and the rest detailed a much more _explosive_ situation than the one she’d experienced. It lined up with the note about not sleeping under the console which she could assume why it was possibly a bad idea. With her final thoughts jotted down and her food finished, she picked the gem up again and stared into it. “What _are_ you?”

Almost as if in response, the gem snapped and sparked and the world around her turned to fire. Before she could even comprehend what was going on, she was in the remains of a blown-out base and the entire world around her was burnt and destroyed. The entirety of the Maverick Hunter Headquarters, along with dozens of hunters, was scorched through and only scalding, dented metal remained. She looked on in horror as a massive, billowing figure rose far above the remains of the base, laughing as streams of glowing shots flashed past and through it.

A pair of bright blue eyes shone through the dust of the wreckage as another flash of red clashed against the figure, creating a line of sparks before the figure threw it aside. She heard shouting from far off, though she couldn’t tell where it came from or what they were saying. More shots. More laughter. More shouting.

Then black.

A single, shining yellow eye appeared far above her.

And the world returned to normal.

Itara jolted back at the suddenness of it all, tossing the gem from her hands as she scrambled back out of the seat, knocking the chair over in the process, staring at the gem in shock. What was that? _Who_ was that? Her widened eyes narrowed suspiciously as she slowly pulled herself to her feet, picking the chair up. There was no doubt in her mind that what she saw was this base but _when_? She needed to find X and Zero again.

With the gem and her notebook stuffed quickly back into her backpack, she threw it on and took off inside. Though, after nearly landing on her face again, she went back to half-floating so she could get to the briefing room quicker. Halfway down the hall, she stopped and wondered if the briefing room or X’s office was the better option. She had no idea where neither X nor Zero were. Well, if she went to the briefing room and they weren’t there, Alia could likely answer her questions just as easily. Or at least call one of them over the intercom, if she couldn’t. With that decided, she continued to the briefing room.

Luckily, Zero was already there, looking over something at one of the computers. She crossed over to him and moved into his view as much as she could, “Zero, I need to ask you something.”

He side-eyed her sharply, causing her ears to flatten against her head, “What do you want?”

She debated how to answer for a moment, but decided straight-forward was the best way to go about it, “Has Headquarters ever been destroyed in the past?”

As expected, her question got not only Zero’s full attention, but Alia’s as well, as she turned away from her own computer to look back. Zero’s expression darkened as he answered with all the suspicion she expected, “Not that I know of, no. _Why_?”

Itara’s brows furrowed as she debated again how to respond. She glanced down, back at her backpack, then up again, “has there ever been a Hunter, or reploid at least, with green armor and… blue eyes? Like, the entire eye, no irises. And a long cape? Really tall and… bald? I think?” She had an idea and pulled her notebook out, missing the sudden hitch in both Zero and Alia, to sketch the reploid from her vision out as best as she could. She wasn’t a great artist and she hadn’t seen them very clearly or for very long, but she could get the general idea out.

Once she finished and showed Zero the sketch, his expression darkened considerably. He scowled so harshly at the image, it caused Itara to flinch and put the notebook back to avoid his gaze. “ _Why_?” he repeated.

She frowned and explained, “I… had a vision. I think. I don’t actually know for sure what it was but… I think it might have been a timeline. I was hoping it was just a past event.”

There was only a moment of silence from Zero, during which Alia moved beside them, asking to see the sketch, as well. Itara reluctantly obliged, but before Alia could even react, Zero was out of his chair, grabbing Itara by the back of the shirt – which caught her off-guard and nearly caused her to lose her notebook – and took off out of the room, calling X on the comm unit to meet him at the office. He gave no further response to Itara until they were both in the office, where he promptly dropped her again and turned to her.

“Are you _sure_ that’s what you saw?”

“Well, it was brief and he was far away but I think so,” she huffed, straightening her clothes back out. When she looked up again, Zero’s scowl caused a chill to run up her spine. “You… know who he is?”

Once again, Zero went silent until X entered the office, “What’s going on, Zero?” He looked quizzically between his partner and the blatantly confused and slightly terrified hedgehog staring up at them both.

“ _Sigma_.”

Itara tilted her head in confusion but X’s mood dropped immediately. As used to Zero’s seriousness as she was by now, Itara was almost afraid of how much darker his mood got while she explained her vision to them. Even X took on, what seemed to her, an unnaturally sharp tone during the conversation. Whoever this Sigma was, he was apparently a huge deal. And an even bigger threat. Zero left to inform Signas about their concerns immediately and the entirety of headquarters was put on alert for signs of the potentially impending doom. Itara almost regretted bringing it up, just in case she was overreacting or her vision was wrong. Then again, if she wasn’t wrong, maybe they could be ready and avoid whatever was to come. She expressed this concern to X, mostly feeling guilty about putting so much extra stress on the already stressful situation, but he quickly reassured her that she had nothing to worry about.

“We knew Sigma would be back someday. He always comes back. That’s why these tactics were integrated in the first place. Knowing ahead of time means we just have more time to prepare.”

“But I don’t even know how far in the future it was, if it was even a future point in _this_ timeline. It could be an alternate timeline for all I know,” she argued.

“Then we’ll be ready, either way.”

Itara frowned but X reached down to pat her head, “It’s alright. I appreciate that you told us at all. It’s better to be prepared for nothing than to be caught off-guard, right?”

“I… suppose. Zero seems… especially on-edge about this.”

X frowned and looked away, “Zero and Sigma have more history than even Sigma and I. You’ve heard of the Sigma Virus, right?” Itara tilted her head. Alia mentioned something about a virus before but she hadn’t named it. Was this what she was talking about? She explained the earlier conversation and X nodded, though looked around and walked over to close his office door again before returning to her, crouching down in front of her, “Keep this between us, right?” She nodded. “We call it the Sigma Virus, but to be more accurate, Sigma _and Zero_ were the first ones to be infected by it. We have a theory that it originated from Zero’s capsule and was released when he was, when he first fought Sigma. Back then, Sigma was actually the leader of the Maverick Hunters. He responded to a call when his entire team was wiped out by an unknown Maverick.”

Itara jerked slightly as her brows furrowed in confusion, “Zero was… a Maverick? Is… there a cure or something?” Was that why he was so naturally violent compared to everyone else?

X shook his head, “The day Zero and Sigma fought, the virus infected them both. It turned Sigma into a Maverick, but it made Zero the hunter he is today. It’s one of the reasons he’s so… _willing_ to fight. He was built to destroy. But while he’s used his power to fight Mavericks, Sigma uses his to fight us and spread the virus as far as he can. We’ve defeated him multiple times now and lost a lot of people in the process, but he just keeps coming back somehow.” There was a moment of baffled silence before X added, “but remember, this is between us. It’s a touchy subject for a lot of people. We lost a lot of reploids in the last fight against Sigma and there are some that blame Zero because of what happened. It’s best not to bring it up.”

Itara nodded again, but as X stood up to get back to work, she spoke up again, “Wait, you said the virus possibly came from Zero’s capsule? So, who created it then?”

X looked back at her and frowned, “We don’t know for sure and that’s part of the problem. Both Zero and I were created years before we were woken up, our original creators were long gone. But while I know my creator, a scientist by the name of Dr. Light, Zero’s never known his true origins. He has nightmares about someone claiming to be his creator, but it never reveals anything useful. All we know for sure is that we were created around the same time.”

“Oh.” Itara looked down to think, taking everything into consideration before she scoffed, “So he really _is_ a lot like Shadow, then.”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged, “Shadow was also created as a weapon but has a bad case of attitude and amnesia.”

X couldn’t help but laugh at the explanation but calmed down quickly enough, “Well, I hope he’s found people that support him, as well. Even with the few people that blame him for the spread of the virus, and the many that are terrified of him, there are a lot of reploids that look up to Zero. Myself, included.”

“Mm, I guess he has Rouge and Omega,” Itara stated. “He refuses to admit it but the only reason I was able to break free of Robotnik’s lab in the first place was because he came to rescue Rouge. They made such a mess of the lab, I was able to escape unnoticed.” She leaned back to stare off, “Same thing with Mephiles. The scepter broke because Shadow prioritized Rouge over it. It’s adorable, really. And I guess Sonic and Metal, too. He has a love-hate friendship with Sonic, but he and Metal were close for a while. I don’t know if either of them remembers that, though. He likes to pretend he’s a complete loner, but really, he has a lot of people around him.”

After a short minute of thought, she shook her head and explained, “He doesn’t get along with Knuckles at all, though, and he hates me. Now that he remembers Mephiles. I’m more than certain I’m going to have a fight with him in store once all this God business is taken care of.” She cringed at the thought, “And if he figures this gem out and uses it against me….”

Horror spread across her face at the realization but she shook her head and sat up quickly. “I’ll… just have to work on a backup plan while I’m figuring the gem out for myself. In the meantime,” she looked back up at X, “You and Sonic are both blue,” he looked over at her with an eyebrow rose at the sudden explanation, “and now that I think about it, you both have green eyes. Weird. I wonder why our worlds connected in the way they did. Maybe there’s something more to this than just the appearance of this weird gem. There had to be some reason it ended up here of all places, after all. I wonder if its possible our worlds have connected before in the past.”

“I suppose anything is possible at this point,” X offered, “It’s hard to keep records of the past intact, even with the spread of technology.”

“I’d look into it, but my ability to tap into your timelines is… well, I thought impossible until earlier. Even so, it’s sparse, sporadic. I have no control over when it happens. It’s probably best I don’t interfere with your past in the first place, though. In my world I can correct mistakes and I have control over my influence. I could all too easily throw things off in this world. My appearance here now is enough, as is.” Any further conversation about the topic was cut short, however, when Zero reappeared in the office looking just as testy as ever.

“How are the preparations?” X questioned.

“We’ll be ready. Signas informed everyone to be on the watch for suspicious activity, though, that’s going to be difficult to pinpoint considering the current situation.”

“X said you guys have been fighting Sigma for a long time now,” Itara added, “How does he usually appear?”

“At the most inconvenient time,” X muttered.

“Usually when whatever new plan he’s put in place is nearing completion,” Zero explained, crossing his arms, “Which begs the question, X, you said you didn’t think HI-MAX was the real mastermind behind the Investigators. Is it possible it’s been Sigma?”

X’s brows furrowed as he thought it over, “At first I didn’t think so but… I suppose it’s always a possibility.”

“You guys got the gem from HI-MAX, right?” Itara questioned, reaching back to pull it out again, studying it carefully, “if Sigma was the one truly behind the Investigators, shouldn’t _he_ have had this?” X and Zero looked back at her and the gem in silent consideration. After a moment, she looked up again, “I suppose it’s better than we thought that you brought it back, then. This gem has too much power for someone like that. It could easily wreak havoc on your world if left here. The sooner I find a way to get this home, the better for all of us.”

X nodded in agreement, but the conversation ended as notifications beeped on both X and Zero’s comm units. Alia’s voice filled the office, calling for X’s immediate attention, causing Itara’s ears to flatten against the noise while the other two listened in to the warning. Another Investigator sighting near the city. X sighed and turned to Itara once Alia finished, “We need to go take care of this. You keep your focus on that gem, alright? If anything else comes up before we return, tell Alia so she can inform us right away.”

Itara nodded and, with another nod between them, X and Zero took off out of the office to get more information from Alia. Itara studied the gem a moment longer before deciding to follow them. She wanted more on these Investigators and this Sigma person, especially if he was the one originally in possession of the gem.


	13. Threats

X and Zero were out the door and gone within a matter of minutes, leaving Itara alone with Alia again. She waited until Alia finished giving out commands to whoever was running backup, getting a number of calls in about both the recent sighting as well as the new orders regarding Sigma. Whoever this towering, blue-eyed Maverick was, he clearly put everyone on edge with just the mention of his possible return. She could easily hear the concern and stress in every voice that Alia connected with and, once again, felt a minor hinge of guilt over getting everyone so riled up. Then again, if this Sigma really was as terrifying as he sounded, it was likely better to have the warning, even if it did come from an unknown point in time.

Once she realized Alia would be busy for some time and it was best not to interrupt her, Itara decided to do her research on her own. There were plenty of computers around the room, all but the main one going unused, so she was sure it was fine if she hopped on one. She was good with computers, after all. Crawling her way up into one of the chairs, she searched out the power button and flipped it on, watching with interest as the screen beeped to life. Luckily, she found that it was no more difficult to work with than some of Robotnik’s computers and got right to digging into whatever relevant files she could find on Sigma, the Maverick Hunters’ past, and both X and Zero’s role in all of it.

Just as X explained before, though, there wasn’t much. Somehow, despite so many robots roaming the land, information regarding the past was scarce. She found bits and pieces of recollections from X, himself, regarding the handful of years before the Maverick Hunters were founded, all somehow leading back to either Sigma or a maverick named ‘Vile’, but it was difficult to find anything that could help in the current situation. From what she could gather, Sigma just… appeared. Again and again. With little to no explanation how he managed to survive every time, though there was a note suggesting he possibly copied and stored his memories elsewhere. Where, they didn’t know. Nor who could be putting the saved memories, along with the virus, back into a body each time.

She wished she could travel back and find out for them.

* * *

As she was debating the possibility and likely effects, another warning popped up on the large overhead screen in front of Alia, drawing both their attention. Alia reached over to pull a separate map up as well as a video feed from a nearby street camera. The warning was for a possible maverick sighting, just a few streets down from the shop Itara and X visited, according to the map. The video feed showed a dog-like robot, running and bucking wildly around the street, crashing into buildings and rushing anyone or anything that moved near it. In addition to the violent behavior and glowing white eyes, the reploid was covered in a flashing, red aura that caught Itara’s attention, specifically.

Alia frowned, checking the other map for X and Zero’s locations. They were still in the midst of a battle with another Investigator. She would have to call someone else in to take care of this. As she did so, however, Itara scooted over to the bigger computer to study the camera and the strange reploid.

“Wait.” Alia glanced over at her and she pointed to the camera, “that glow isn’t normal, right?”

“No, not that I’m aware of.”

“It may have something to do with the energy source, then. It’s just the one reploid, right?” Alia looked back at the camera feed, moving it around as much as possible to check the area. Unlike every other Investigator incident thus far, the dog-like reploid was, in fact, acting entirely alone. “I can look into it. That glow looks familiar.”

“Are you certain? It could be dangerous.”

“Send another Hunter that’s free if you think it’s necessary, but I’ll head in, as well. It’s near the shop X and I were at earlier so I should be able to teleport right to it.”

Alia frowned, looking over her, but with the reploid continuing to rampage and threatening civilians, she didn’t have the time to argue. “Alright, but be safe. I’ll see who’s closest and send backup to assist you.” Itara nodded, returned to the other computer to grab her backpack and the gem, and disappeared into the shadows. Alia watched for only a moment before turning back to the computer to call in backup, as well as to let X and Zero know of the situation.

Itara reappeared in front of the shop they’d been at since it was the easiest point of contact and tried to recall which direction the attack was in. It didn’t take long to figure out. She just had to follow the screams. She stuck to the shadows, which was rather easy considering it was nearly the dead of night, and even the heavily lit city was awash in long, reaching shadows. She arrived at the incident location and pushed past the fleeing city residents to get a closer look at the raging maverick. Just as before, it was crashing into the side of buildings and rushing anything that moved near it. A non-maverick reploid nearly got flattened in its rage but managed to dive out of the way at the last second. The longer she watched, the more erratic the reploid’s behavior became, and the more familiar the energy from the glow around it felt.

She edged closer again, against her better judgement, and a realization hit her as soon as the ‘maverick’ was in full view of her. Her eyes widened at the chipped, red gem embedded in its forehead, the likely source of the glow. Kipper! It was possessed, not a maverick! Which meant she could likely talk it down without hurting it. She’d planned to use the gem’s power, if need be, but if the problem was coming from Kipper, she wouldn’t need it. The reploid continued its erratic bucking, destroying a nearby mailbox as it ran it down, but finally seemed to catch sight of her and shifted its stance to face her head-on, growling and screeching defensively. At least with its attention on her, the others in the area had the opportunity to escape.

She did her best to keep the reploid’s attention until she was sure the area was clear, then finally put her full attention on the ghost in the gem. “Kipper! Kipper, it’s okay, it’s me,” she called out, standing her ground but keeping her posture as non-threatening as possible. She wasn’t sure what the travel through dimensions could have done to the doll, after all. “Calm down. I know you’ve been inactive for a while but I can catch you up. Just detach from the robot, okay? We can find you a different body.” Though, admittedly, she wasn’t sure how he even had the power to take over the reploid in the first place, his aura had been so faint the entire time. “C’mon Kipper, it’s me.”

She walked carefully and slowly towards the reploid, who watched her with caution but didn’t move right away. She took it as a sign that Kipper was responding and smiled, “There you go, it’s okay. C’mon Kipper, these robots aren’t like Robotnik’s, they all have complex AI. You can’t take over them like this. You’ll get this one hurt if you stay in it any longer. I’ll find you another doll body, okay?”

The reploid continued watching her with narrowed eyes, its mechanical ears pointed back, its stance defensive and unmoving. But it was better than running rampant. It wasn’t rushing her, so she took it as a positive sign and inched closer, though at a much slower pace, talking to it all the same and calling Kipper out. However, just as she was within reaching distance of it, the reploid shifted. Its stance shifted back and before Itara could react, or even draw her hand back, it pounced. The heavy mechanical beast’s weight crashed against her, sending both of them sprawling back as the air around them suddenly zapped with static. The reploid sparked, shocking Itara, as the entire world shifted sharply around them. The once cool, but stuffy night air was replaced with a familiar, encompassing heat.

Her back stung from the crash landing, crushing her backpack between her and the smoldering cement, stabbing the gem into her spines with the heavy weight above her. The sky turned the harsh red of her world as an equally familiar, bright yellow glow filled her blurring vision. The mechanical dog keeping her trapped only twitched about angrily as the gem embedded in its forehead, suddenly whole again, sparked violently. The heavy metal paws caused her to gasp for breath with every shift, knocking whatever breath remained right out. Before she could even begin to grasp the situation, or look for a way to get the heavy, shaking robot off her, however, a beam of sparking, purple light shot from the being floating far above them, zapping through the mechanical dog, the red gem, and Itara.

The robot sparked as the beam tore through its hull, creating a gaping, uneven hole clear through it as it collapsed on top of her. Kipper’s gem, which only had the original scratch going down it again, shattered and cracked around the edges, taking on the deep gash it had when she found it again. Her own chest tightened as her eyes widened in horror, pain shooting through her entire body, though whether it was from the beam or the crushing weight of the robot, she couldn’t tell.

But then just as quickly as it appeared… it was gone again.

The burnt red sky returned to the pale grey of Zero’s world and the shattered reploid that had crushed her clattered to the side in a broken heap. Kipper’s damaged gem jolted out of the reploid and clacked to the ground. Itara could only lay there, staring up at the sky in horror and shock, trying to comprehend what had happened. Her back hurt, her chest hurt, she was vaguely aware of her crystals stabbing into her palms, the strange gem in her backpack was still jutting into her spines. But she just couldn’t will herself to move. Not yet.

Yet the chaos didn’t seem to be finished as the sky turned black and a massive, swirling portal appeared within the edges of her vision. She didn’t have the energy to sit up and check, still struggling to get her panicked breathing under control, as a figure with Robotnik’s very distinct shape appeared behind the portal. It was only a shadow and another figure, some kind of hovercraft, zipped through and the portal vanished again. She hadn’t seen the other person in the hovercraft, but she was almost certain the one behind the portal was Robotnik. No one else had a mustache like that. However, her certainty of what she saw was gone just as quickly as the vision, itself, as the overcast grey of the city returned to normal. She didn’t understand anything that was happening anymore and it only grew more frustrating and confusing. Kipper’s ultimate demise was one thing, that was likely attached to the gem, itself. But visions of Robotnik? _Here_? Those couldn’t be possible.

Eventually, her heavy, shaking breath hiccupped into a light sob and she finally regained herself enough to realize there wasn’t a gaping hole in her chest this time and that she was, in fact, otherwise fine. Sore, but alive. With another hiccup, she slowly pushed herself back up to a sitting position and looked to the dented metal contraption lying beside her. Kipper’s aura had retreated back into his gem again, the glow was gone, but she was wary of picking it up. She had her answer about what happened to the ghost doll after he left them, but that was hardly a comforting thought considering the memories it brought with it.

At some point, she became aware of another presence nearby and was forced out of her thoughts again. She reached up to quickly wipe the tears from her eyes, wincing when she pulled her crystals out of her bleeding palms, and struggled back to her feet. The legs of the destroyed robot fell to the side as she reached over to grab the troublemaking gem and stood up to turn and face whoever was approaching. The Hunter Alia sent in as her backup, she figured.

She looked up at the towering dark blue and yellow boots of a reploid as she fought to keep her hiccups under control. He looked humanoid, like the hunters back at base, with long silver hair and even a buster arm, so she assumed she was correct about him being the backup. She sighed in equal parts relief and exhaustion as he looked down at her in confusion.

“S-Sorry,” she finally stammered, dusting her shorts off and tucking Kipper’s gem into the front pocket of her backpack, not wanting to lose it again, “I think… the s-situation is as handled as it can be. Could you just… help me get back to headquarters now?”

The reploid studied her for several, elongated seconds, reaching up to rub at his chin as he contemplated a response. He grinned after a moment and questioned, “Headquarters?”

“Uh… yeah, Maverick Hunter Headquarters?” Her head tilted, “You’re the backup Alia sent for me, right?” She realized, perhaps a bit late, that he quite possibly was not the hunter she was expecting and had no idea what she was talking about. “I’m sorry, you just looked like the other hunters so I thought… um… I’m… sorry if that was presumptuous. I…” Her ears flattened as she looked down again. She just wanted to go to bed. That visage was too familiar, too painful, she was struggling to keep her sobbing under control.

The mysterious reploid remained silent a moment, but crouched down to meet her eye level, “No, you’re right. I’m a Hunter. I’ve just been… out on a mission for a while, that’s all, so I’m afraid I don’t know who you are. You don’t look like a reploid.” He glanced towards the broken reploid behind her, but said nothing about it and looked back at her again.

“Oh, uh,” Itara turned red in the face but took a moment to recollect herself as much as possible. At least he was a Hunter. “No, I’m not a reploid,” she sighed, “I’m Itara, I’m not from around here but I’ve been staying at Headquarters for the past couple days. I came back with Zero and I’m helping to figure this energy problem out. I… there was…,” she glanced back at the broken reploid, frowning, “X and Zero were busy with something else and there was a maverick sighting so I… I offered to look into it. Um…,” she looked up again, “I would appreciate it if you could take me back though,” she glanced off to the side and muttered, “I don’t wanna get yelled at by Zero right now.”

“With _Zero_ , huh?” the reploid grinned, though it went mostly unnoticed by the exhausted, troubled hedgehog. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Itara, my name is Dynamo.” He held out a hand, which was nearly the size of her entire head, but she gave him hers to shake. “I’ll happily take you back to Headquarters, but do you mind if we take a quick detour on the way there? I just need to finish something up.”

“I suppose that’s fine.”

“Great, then follow me.” Dynamo stood back up and turned towards a nearby street, Itara following after as quickly as possible. She was sore everywhere and her head was a mess, but having a moment to recollect her thoughts before having to deal with Zero sounded fine to her. She just hoped this wouldn’t take too long, either. Especially since this Dynamo guy was walking much faster than Zero and X did when she was trying to keep up. They were distinctly more aware of her much, much shorter legs. And injuries.

\---

Zero tread down the halls of Headquarters with an unusual haste, ignoring the passing glances from fellow hunters as he continued his own hunt. He and X returned to base after defeating the first Investigator, having gotten word that the time traveler left to look into another one, despite his previous warnings about staying home. Another hunter was sent out after her, but by the time they arrived to the area, the time traveler was gone and all that remained was a broken hull of a reploid. The hedgehog girl hadn’t been seen nor heard from since. He made another lap around the base before finding himself at X’s office and sighed in annoyance. Perhaps she was hiding in his office. He’d already checked under the console in the briefing room, since that was where she apparently hid last time, but when X only looked at him strangely when he entered, he got a feeling that wasn’t the case.

“Zero?” X questioned, concern spreading easily across his face as he got up from the desk.

“Is the time traveler hiding in here?”

X’s head tilted before he shook it, “No, not that I’ve seen. You still can’t find her?”

Zero sighed with heavy exasperation, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose, “No.”

However, before they could continue their search together, Alia called them both up over the comm unit: “X, Zero, come to the briefing room immediately.” She sounded concerned, but not panicked, and as soon as they reached her, they realized why. There was a voice-only call screen open on the monitor and Alia looked back at them with a thin line of disinterest once they arrived. “Someone’s calling for you.”

“Who is it?” X asked as they continued to the console.

Before she had an opportunity to answer, however, the caller spoke up himself: “Hello X, and welcome back from the dead, Zero!”

“…Dynamo?” X’s face scrunched up in confusion while Zero’s only flattened to match Alia’s disinterest, “You’re still around?”

“Well of course! And I’d very much like those Nightmare Souls you’ve collected thus far.”

“Not a chance,” Zero scoffed.

“Are you quite certain?”

“We’re not giving them to you, Dynamo, why are you even trying? What do you have to do with all this?” X demanded.

The line went silent for a moment before the console beeped with an incoming request to switch to a video feed. Alia looked to X for confirmation and once he gave a reluctant nod, she accepted and Dynamo’s smug face filled the screen. Zero rolled his eyes while X demanded to know what he wanted again.

“I told you. I want the Nightmare Souls you’ve collected. Tell you what, I’ll offer you a trade,” he moved slightly to the side to reveal more of the dark room he was calling from. The hunters studied the screen closely as a faint glow in the background suddenly went out and a figure came into focus on the camera. Dynamo stepped back and crossed his arms so they could see both him and the very tiny figure behind him explaining, “I seem to have _picked up_ this tiny child of yours-.”

“I’M NOT A CHILD!” Itara screeched from behind him, “Sorry, Zero… I… he said he was a Hunter and would take me back to Headquarters.”

Dynamo glanced back at her while Zero sighed again, dropping his head into his hand while X’s eyes narrowed. “Point is, I’ll give her back to you, in exchange for the souls. Deal?”

“Dynamo, don’t you dare hurt her,” X demanded.

“I have no intention to,” he shrugged, though grinned again after a minute “Though, I have to admit, the idea that Zero’s been off babysitting this entire time is entertaining. I told you to release some stress, not adopt.”

Zero scoffed at the idea and turned on his heel, taking off out the door and demanding Alia give him Dynamo’s location immediately. He fully intended to pulverize the nuisance so he could focus back on work again. Alia called after him, but he was gone down the hall in seconds, leaving X behind to finish the conversation. They turned back towards the screen to see Dynamo laughing and X sighed, “Dynamo, you have no idea what you’re dealing with this time. I suggest you leave the girl be and vacate the area immediately if you wish to continue existing.”

Dynamo stopped laughing only long enough to raise an eyebrow, “I’m not afraid of you or Zero.”

“You should be.”

With a final laugh, Dynamo gave them the coordinates to meet him at before disconnecting the call. Alia sent them to Zero and turned to X, “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have let her take off on her own like that.”

X shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, we’ll get her back. Dynamo doesn’t seem to realize we’re not the only threats here, I imagine she’s not really in that much danger. If anything, Dynamo’s the one who’s in danger here.”

“Well, he certainly will be if Zero reaches him first,” Alia added rather sheepishly. X gave a quick smirk and nodded, logging the coordinates before taking off after Zero. He had no intention of giving the Nightmare Souls away and Dynamo was anything but a major threat to that. If anything, the only reason he was needed at all was to keep Zero’s temper in check.


	14. Sigma

“Zero’s gonna kill us both because of you,” Itara warned, crossing her arms and glaring up at the lying reploid. “Also, he wasn’t _babysitting_ me because I’m not a _baby_! I’m older than I look!” Just because all these robots were built taller than her didn’t mean they got to call her a kid! She was a perfectly average height for a mobian! Sort of. Okay, she was a _little_ small for a mobian, but that didn’t matter.

“I’m not afraid of Zero,” Dynamo repeated, checking over the bars holding the tiny hedgehog girl hostage.

“You honestly should be. Even I’m a little afraid of him. But more importantly, I thought you said you were a hunter?! You lied to me!”

“I did, and quite frankly it was a little too easy,” he stated, kneeling down in front of her to talk with her at eye-level, “I’m not a hunter and I never have been. I work for someone else who has a very personal grudge against Zero. Call me an opportunist, but you literally walked right into my hands.”

“Who do you work for?”

“I’m not telling you.”

With a heavy sigh, she dropped her head forward against the notebook in her lap. This was stupid. Was it safer to wait? Or should she use her powers and escape? Dynamo had no idea who or what she was, obviously, so maybe it was better not to reveal anything. But as she flipped to the next page of her notebook to see if there were any notes, she realized it was the next section of blacked out pages. Her last notes were at the bottom of the current page, there was little space left for future notes.

So whatever was going to happen was coming soon? Was it today? Did it happen during this upcoming fight? A frustrated growl escaped at all the unending, unanswered questions, grabbing Dynamo’s attention again. She didn’t notice, however, as she reached up to grab her ears, growing ever angrier about her blocked and off-kilter powers. What use were they? She just wanted to go home and return to a _normal_ life! She wanted RK and Metal and Kipper, she wanted to go back to school, she wanted Solaris to _vanish_ from her life completely! She didn’t want to be in this world, she didn’t want to be in the past or the future, she didn’t want the timelines to reset again. She just wanted a _normal life_!

“H-Hey.” She barely even registered Dynamo’s suddenly strained voice. “What are you doing?”

When she finally looked up again through tear-filled eyes, she realized the metal bars around her were red-hot and her ears were stinging from being stabbed with her crystals again. She panicked, realizing she’d let her power show again… but then it fizzled out. She was too tired to panic. Her body temperature heated up further and her crystals covered the remainder of her spines, her ears flicking wildly once her nails retracted from them. Metal was going to be mad at her for that when she got back, but if this world wanted to test her, fine.

“What the hell was that?” Dynamo demanded, backing up but keeping his eyes trained on her.

Itara only stared up at him and slipped her notebook back into her bag. Well, if the secret was out anyway. “X warned you that you didn’t know what you were dealing with, didn’t he?” she questioned, pulling the strange gem out of her bag. She touched the power in it again and summoned two full-sized crystal Biters while she stood up and let the metal cage melt around her, the molten liquid running down the back of her crystallized spines. Dynamo backed up further, panicked and called for backup on his comm unit before pointing his buster arm at her.

“Now, you just stay right where you are,” he threatened, though seemed unsure about firing. His delay would be his downfall.

“This is your fault for lying to me,” Itara growled, “I just wanted to go back to Headquarters. I just wanted to focus on studying this stupid gem so I could go home. But you _lied to me! Just like him! This is_ your _fault!”_

The Biters rushed the reploid that was now backed into a corner, though he had no hesitation about shooting the strange purple, crystalline dogs and shattered them easily. But he saw no relief in the shattered remains as they quickly and easily melted into an ethereal black goo before reforming into a much larger Biter and jumped at the reploid again. The massive purple dog-creature swiped at the cornered reploid, though only managed to clip his side as he dove away, firing again immediately upon landing. Itara watched from the center of the room with a wide-eyed madness, her eyes switching to the molten red, glowing furiously. As soon as one Biter fell, another took its place, forming from the shadows and shattered remains of the last, tossing the lying reploid around the room.

No matter how many times he shot or escaped, no matter how many attempts he made to reach the center of the room or even shoot the creator of the beasts, Dynamo only faced bigger and more violent creatures as the room around them heated up. The steel beams around what looked to be an unfinished construction zone slacked under the raging inferno while piles of wooden boards burst into flame. But as three giant, snapping Biters cornered him again and pinned him down, two of the three were struck down, leaving only the one crushing him into the dirt and the maddened child at the center to be whisked up by a frantic X.

“Hey, hey! Calm down, we’re here!” X called as Zero did away with the final Biter and took its place keeping Dynamo down, scowling down at him, his saber remaining pointed. It took several minutes of hushing and reassurance, but X eventually brought Itara back to her senses and drew her attention to him. Her eyes returned to normal first, the temperature dropping along with them. “There, there we go, it’s alright. We’ll handle it from here, alright?” Before even he realized what was happening, the tiny hedgehog girl burst into tears and clung onto him, causing him to shoot a deadly glare back at Dynamo, who only stared on in a combination of baffled confusion and silent relief. If only for the fact that they likely just saved him from his own hostage.

“What the hell is that thing?” he stammered, though didn’t dare move under risk of being impaled by the expectedly furious Zero.

“That _thing_ is none of your concern and you’re lucky you aren’t melted scraps right now,” Zero hissed.

“I warned you, Dynamo,” X sighed once he had Itara calmed down enough that her bawls turned into quiet sniffles. He turned his attention back to the quieting hedgehog to ensure she wasn’t harmed but once he was sure she would be okay, he set her back down to turn his focus back to Dynamo. With the cause of her current frustration under the sharp eyes of X and Zero, Itara grabbed her backpack and moved to a far corner of the half-finished room to calm herself down more. Or rather, she wanted to try and put the fires she started out before they spread. The steel beams would cool on their own eventually, but the fires on the wood planks that were lying around would only spread with all the sawdust covering everything.

However, as she summoned Biters to help stamp the fires out, a colossal shadow suddenly shifted over her and a rush of wind and fabric whipped over her, not only spreading the fires again, but ripped the gem from her hand and knocked her clean off her feet. The summoned Biter shrank in size and Itara immediately pushed herself back to her feet to frantically search for the lost gem. When she saw no sign of it on the ground, she looked up to see the source of the massive shadow slowly come into sight.

Floating well above her, with a long, tattered, billowing red cape whipping angrily around its towering, bulky body, were the glowing furious eyes from her vision – and her missing gem in its clenched grip. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared, wide-eyed up at the ghastly figure, though it all but ignored her despite having stolen her gem. Instead, its sights were set far behind her. At the otherwise still unaware X and Zero.

Was this… Sigma?

Fear spread through every inch of her body, but as the figure continued to stare above her, its vicious grin set solely on X and Zero, the fear dissipated. He stole her only way home and had the audacity to _ignore_ her? The crippling fear turned to burning rage as the widened eyes turned to a dark scowl, the whites of her eyes shifting as her arms burst into flames again.

“ _Give me that back_.” Her demand was barely a whisper over the noise from the battle behind her. The towering figure moved forward, likely to face X and Zero, but only got so far before two small crystalline biters moved in front of him, melted together, and burst into flame to dive directly into him. Finally, he looked down at the tiny hedgehog scowling furiously up at him. “Give me that back.” However, her demand only got her shot at instead of a response, but the resulting explosion finally drew X and Zero’s attention.

“Sigma!”

“Tch. You just won’t stay dead, will you?”

Sigma’s corrupted laughter echoed through the construction site, but Dynamo’s attempt to use the distraction to his benefit got him a kick to the back form Zero, who pinned him again.

“F-IGH-T ME, X!”

X scowled and readied his buster while Zero kept Dynamo down. Itara, however, pulled herself back to her feet and dusted herself off, checking that she didn’t lose anything _else_ before looking to the battle. She wasn’t going to be ignored that easily. However, before any of them could make any further moves, the entire area _glitched_ and Itara and Zero both recognized the sudden wave of unease that came afterwards. Physics seemed to all but break down, the ground softened, the buildings wavered and shifted, and the night sky turned jet black, blotting the moonlight out entirely. The world grew dark and all sources of light vanished. The soft glow of X and Zero’s armor lit up first, followed soon after by the burning light of Itara’s fires and eyes. Finally, far above them, the sharp bluish-white of Sigma’s eyes and the crackling red of the gem cast a violent glare around the otherwise jet-black surroundings.

Sigma’s laugh filled the stale air but as he shifted and revealed more of his ragged, massive body, they realized he was hardly more than an internal skeletal structure, though massive in size. The gem was embedded within his forehead.

“Shit.”

Enormous lasers shook the ground they ran across.

Lumbering balls of sludge lobbed strange, electrified balls off the invisible walls.

Strange, glitching, glowing red boxes covered the sky that absorbed everything they touched.

X and Zero were run ragged, both trying to avoid the almost otherworldly attacks and fight Sigma at the same time. Though they landed as many hits as they took, the onslaught was never-ending. Zero focused on keeping the balls of sludge at bay while X focused his attacks on Sigma, himself, but every time they gained an edge, Sigma would fire another of his world-shattering lasers and force them further away to avoid total destruction. It was quickly becoming a battle of attrition.

And Itara realized it all too easily.

She’d kept as much distance between herself and the battle as possible, realizing she would only get in the way without the gem’s power, but her outside view gave her the perspective necessary to realize what was going on. She needed to find a way to give X and Zero the edge. Without getting in the way. But what could she do?

Her face scrunched up in agitation at the red blocks floating around the area. She recognized those blocks. At least, as far as having seen them before. She still couldn’t answer what they actually were. A stray electrified ball bounced her way, knocking her off her feet again, but didn’t seem to zap her the same as when they touched X or Zero. Why? It couldn’t just be a robot thing, she could _see_ the sparking energy bouncing off it, like Metal’s short. Robot or not, that should shock her.

Filled with curiosity and desperation, she edged closer to the battle, though had to move back immediately again as another laser tore through the area. Once the coast was clear again, she inched forward and waited for another of the sludge balls to appear before shuffling behind it and pressing a flaming hand to it. The sludge burst into flame and screeched out of existence, but Itara’s brow furrowed in confusion. She hadn’t actually _felt_ anything there. She could see it. She could feel the laser shaking the ground. See the blacked-out sky. X and Zero were clearly taking damage from landed hits. The ball knocked her over before. So, what was going on?

The mental debate distracted her from her surroundings long enough for another laser to fire off unnoticed and it wasn’t until Zero knocked her out of the way with a swift kick to the back, sending her face-first into the dirt, that she zoned back in again. “Ow! Hey! That hurt!”

“Then pay attention and stay out of the way, idiot!”

“There’s something off!”

“No kidding!”

Itara’s cheeks puffed at the response. She didn’t need his sass right now. But they didn’t have time to argue, either. Once she pushed herself back to her feet, wincing at her scuffed and now bleeding knees, she turned back towards Sigma and the gem. What _was_ the gem’s power, exactly? Could she take control of it back from Sigma? It activated on touch, if she could get within reach of it, who could control it better? She had an idea.

“Zero, I need your help,” she called back over to him as he rolled out of the way of another attack.

“You need some kind of help,” he growled.

“Less sass, more action!”

“Now is not the time, you two,” X snapped, firing another shot.

Zero growled under his breath, slicing through another sludge ball before running over to Itara, “Fine, what do you want? Make it quick.”

“Can you throw me?”

His face went blank for a split second before it scrunched back up in confusion, “What?”

“Throw me. At Sigma. At the gem, specifically. Its touch activated.” She didn’t think she needed to explain further and, as it turned out, she was right as Zero picked up on her meaning quickly enough. He gave a brief look of disbelief, but after a silent debate of her determination, he finally sighed and reached down to pick her up. “Just please don’t throw me into a laser, that’s all I ask. I can’t redirect my rolls like Sonic.”

“I won’t but you’d better be right about this,” Zero grumbled.

“Won’t know for sure ‘til we try.”

There was only a brief moment of hesitation before Zero nodded and took a couple steps back to get his aim right, though had to jump out of the way of another electrical snap in the process. He couldn’t waste time worrying about how idiotic this plan was, without him keeping the sludge at bay, X was quickly getting overrun. With a final calculation and a quick balling up from Itara, he flung the tiny ball of a hedgehog towards the gem embedded in Sigma’s forehead and swung around to slice through another sludge ball. The tiny ball of fur flew over the incoming attacks and had a near-miss with an electrified ball, but with a light _thud_ , the spin smacked dead-center on the gem. Itara immediately uncurled to dig her crystallized claws around it to remain in place, as it hadn’t knocked it out completely like she’d been hoping. The effect of both her and Sigma being in direct contact caused an immediate reaction as the gem sparked and flashed violently, struggling between the two energies.

Sigma’s attacks stopped short, the sludge vanished as the covering darkness flashed back and forth. The giant robotic body wailed and screeched and bucked about wildly in its attempt to throw the intrusion off, but the more he swung around, the deeper Itara sunk her claws in to stay on. The back and forth loosened the gem further and before either realized, it came loose and sent Itara crashing back to the ground, though she quickly balled back up and landed again with a sliding stop – that just as quickly turned into her stumbling back and falling. But as Sigma’s screech echoed around the flashing, wavering field, and X and Zero rushed to her side, Itara pushed herself back to her feet with a grin, her eyes glowing red and green again.

“ _I win_ ,” she hissed, holding the gem in her claws out as the crystals ran further up her arms and spines, “This power is _mine_.” Her flames erupted once more as her body fully crystallized. The red blocks around the sky turned to swirling purple masses and a burst of energy exploded around them, nearly knocking X and Zero back. The swirling purple masses grew and merged above the raging remains of Sigma until they consumed him, snapping and crackling until he was no more before vanishing with them.

However, the air around where Sigma and the masses met continued to crackle until a different kind of swirling mass formed. It was small at first, but grew until it filled the size of the now missing Sigma. Itara stared at it for several minutes as her crystals retreated to her hands and the tips of her spines again. She stepped forward towards the portal but was stopped by X before she could get far.

“What was that?” he demanded. Itara couldn’t tell if he was angry or concerned.

“A portion of my father’s power,” she answered as matter-of-factly as possible.

Before he could ask for further clarification, the comm unit sparked to life with Alia’s frantic calls, “X! Zero! Are you there?! What’s going on?! Where are you?!”

X didn’t take his eyes off Itara but reached down and responded, “We’re here, Alia. We found Dynamo. …and Sigma.” He finally looked around at the destroyed construction site, Dynamo nowhere to be seen, “They’ve… vanished.” He looked down at Itara again, “I want an explanation once we get back to base.”

Itara’s eyes had moved back to the swirling portal behind her but returned when he spoke up again. She only shook her head and pointed, saying nothing. He looked back with uncertainty, studying the portal, and realized her meaning easily enough. Zero walked over before long, also picking up her meaning, and sighed, “Finally.” Itara only stared, she was still in shock, but X frowned heavily.

“Where did you send Sigma? And Dynamo?”

“I did nothing to Dynamo. I imagine he took off when Sigma had control of the gem. As for Sigma, though, I don’t know for sure. I may have sent him to the past but I may also have sent him to the future. I don’t know.”

“How do you not know?” X questioned, growing frustrated. When Itara gave him a dejected look, however, his tone softened again, “Look, I just need to know if he’s going to be a danger again soon.”

Itara looked down in thought, wondering about it, “Probably not. If he’s in the future, he can’t do anything until he reappears at that point. If he’s in the past, well… you’ve already defeated him several times in the past. He… doesn’t look like he’s in great shape. I imagine that won’t change much.” She looked towards the portal again, “I don’t know how long that’ll stay open….”

There was silence for a moment before X finally sighed and relinquished. “Alright, alright.” He seemed to debate something before nodding and turning back to Zero, “I want you to go with her.”

“What?”

“I want you to go with her, Zero.”

“ _What_?”

“Wait, what?!” Itara jumped, staring up at him in shock and horror, “I- he- but-?!” That was a terrible idea! “X, I think your circuits got fried in that fight. You’re not making any sense.”

“We should head back to base,” Zero added and moved to lead X back to headquarters, but the blue bot stood firm and shook his head.

“I have not fried any circuits. I’ve thought about this. I want to help save her world as much I do ours but I can’t do it, myself. There’s no one I’d trust more to handle this than you, Zero.”

“You realize she has her own heroes back in her world,” Zero ventured, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

“Yeah and there’s no guarantee I can get Zero back a second time! If I solve this energy problem, it’ll probably sever the link between our worlds!” Itara panicked. That was one concern, of course, the main one, even, but she also didn’t know how much she wanted to deal with Zero any more. He was back where he belonged, she kept her promise. She didn’t want to chance anything further. “I can handle this on my own!”

X shook his head again, “No, I don’t think so. I think your theory that our worlds have been connected before was right and if that’s the case, there’s a good chance it can happen again. I believe Zero will come back again once he’s helped save both our worlds.” Itara sputtered for a response while Zero did similar in silence, both searching for a way to talk X out of such an idea. However, before either came to any conclusion, X leaned forward and whispered to Zero, “besides, having seen the kid fight now, _someone_ more skilled needs to be with her. Just in case that portal doesn’t lead her back home. I don’t want her stranded in yet another unfamiliar place on her own. I doubt she’d make it far.”

“Hey. I heard that,” Itara growled, her ears flattening against her head as she turned red in the face.

X gave a sheepish laugh and stood up straight again, looking to the portal, “You should head out sooner rather than later. Like you said, there’s no telling how long that’ll stay open and we’re counting on you to save both our worlds now.”

Itara flushed up but Zero went into silent consideration, his brows furrowing in frustration after a minute. Finally, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “If that’s what you think is best, X.” Itara turned a baffled expression up to him now, but X only smiled softly and nodded.

“This concerns our world as much as it does hers and there’s no one I trust more than you to get a job done, Zero. And I’ll be waiting for your return, like always.” The two locked eyes for a long moment before Zero grunted in annoyance and turned away, which got a small laugh from X before he turned to Itara and explained, “I’m expecting great things from you, too, Itara.” Her face only burned brighter as she stammered some vague semblance of a response. “And promise me you’ll find a way to send Zero back after it’s all taken care of.”

The tiny hedgehog’s spines stood on end as she sputtered for a response, eventually letting the steam out of her ears and calming herself down enough to talk again, “I… but…” She looked towards the portal and Zero, then back at X, giving him a determined nod of confirmation, “I’ll make sure he gets home again.”

“Good. Then off with you both. Do you have everything you need?”

Itara gave a quick look around for her backpack. She stuffed the strange gem back into it, checked for her notebook, made sure Kipper and her spare clothes were still there, then zipped it up and walked to the portal to inspect it. “If this leads home, first we find RK and Metal and get an update. We’ll need to figure out how long we’ve been gone first, then depending on the state of the world, find Shadow and explain the gem to him. Then we can discuss a plan with everyone moving forward,” she instructed Zero as they studied the portal while X watched and waited behind them.

“Fine.”

She glanced up at him and studied the look on his face before looking at the portal again. She was silently actually grateful for his presence to a degree, considering she really didn’t know anything for sure about the portal, but she wouldn’t say as much. Instead, she reached up to grab his hand, catching him off-guard as he immediately ripped it away and threw a confused scowl down at her. “I don’t want us to be separated, that’s all,” she huffed, “would you rather I be on your back? Or do you want to get lost in time and space? I can’t get you home if you’re in another dimension or timeline, after all.”

With a great amount of displeasure at the mere idea, Zero slowly put his hand back down within her reach again, scowling when she took hold of it. “Just don’t get used to it.”

“Trust me, I won’t,” Itara sighed and moved towards the portal, throwing a quick wave back to X before being thrown through the whips and streams of time and dimensions again. She almost immediately nearly lost her grip on Zero’s hand, but he tightened his own before she did, though she had little time to process it as she had to try and make sense of the flow around them again. Moving through time was one thing, she had hundreds of years of practice to learn to control time travel. Moving through alternate timelines was more difficult, but manageable. Moving between dimensions was something else entirely. There were _infinitely_ more energies to contend with, alternate timelines of both worlds, different points, fluxes, static events, her own energies, the Gods’ energies. She had little control over their travel through the dimensions and more or less let the streams carry them where they would. But the gem had a much stronger reaction to the portal than she did and seemed to be guiding them back entirely on its own. However it got in Zero’s world, it wanted to go home.

Itara thought she did, too.


	15. Home?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the return home.... or is it?

Hours and seconds passed at the same rate as the gem pulled them towards an exit. Itara was grateful for the end of the whipping about, either way, but she had virtually no time to prepare for a graceful landing and had already accepted her inevitable plummet into rocks or concrete or whichever she was about to land on. The opened portal threw them back out with a powerful kick, sending Itara scrambling to stay on her feet but it was Zero who saved her face – and knees – by keeping a grip on her hand until she regained her balance. She had no further time to thank him, however, as a familiar voice yelled out.

“Sonic, help me!”

Itara’s brows furrowed as she looked up, noticing first that the world was… _not_ covered in fire. The sky was blue and the temperature felt normal for a summer afternoon in the northern hemisphere. But Tails was not twenty feet away, cowering in front of a broken E-123 Omega, with Chaos closing in.

Chaos?

Not the giant, world-destroying Chaos she’d left behind. It was normal, regular-sized Chaos, before he gained control over the emeralds. Yet he was attacking nonetheless and Itara knew who her enemies were nowadays. “Zero!” she pointed the water monster out and within seconds, it was cut down. However, it seemed to fizzle out of existence instead of simply retreating back into the drain it came from. She was glad to see Tails again, it meant she was back home, but something was clearly off. How long had she been gone? Did they power the Gods down before she managed to return with the gem? Did she… go back in time? Well, she would get her answers soon.

Tails came out of his curled ball slowly, looking over his shoulder once he put his arms down, his hopeful expression dropping to confusion. Obviously, he’d been expecting Sonic, but his next question concerned Itara even more, “Who are you?” Tails show know Zero by now and, more importantly, he should have recognized her but he showed no signs of recognition once she walked over.

“Do you… not know us?” she questioned, meeting his confusion.

“Are you with the Resistance?”

She didn’t recall their group having a name before but Knuckles did seem to like naming things unnecessarily, perhaps she simply never noticed. “That depends on what the ‘Resistance’ is, I suppose.” She desperately needed a nap. This day was too long.

Tails’ brow furrowed in further confusion, he debated for a long moment before answering warily, “The Resistance against Eggman? The team put together by Knuckles to fight back against Eggman and his army and take the world back?”

Eggman? Eggman should be hiding in space. What army was this? She looked up to give Zero a look of confusion and concern before turning back to Tails, “I’m… going to need an explanation.” She glanced around the street. It was abandoned, she couldn’t even hear distant city noise, despite being dead center in a well-developed cityscape. It wasn’t Soleanna, she could tell that much, but not much beyond that. The longer she looked, the more details stuck out to her. The buildings were badly damaged and she could see smoke in the distance. Weeds were growing up through the cement, with full grass patches where the cement had been completely upturned. Then there was the inactive Omega right next to them. What was going on here? _When_ was here?

“What… year is it?” she questioned slowly, turning her gaze back to Tails, who jerked and watched her strangely.

“It’s… 2017. Are you… alright? Were you attacked by one of Eggman’s robots? I can take you to a shelter to get your head checked out.”

That couldn’t be right. It was only the beginning of 2017 when she and Zero left her world. Even if this was later in the year, it couldn’t possibly be so different. She reached out to grab Tails’ shoulders, questioning, “Are you _sure_?”

“Y-Yes! I’m sure. Let me take you to one of the shelters, you clearly need to lie down,” Tails insisted, reaching up to pry her hands off, though he looked up at Zero warily, “Who are _you_?”

Zero’s eyes narrowed, but reluctantly responded, “I suppose I’ve now taken on the role of this one’s keeper.” If he recalled correctly, it had been this same year when they left. Why did the fox not recognize at least Itara? Something didn’t add up. Perhaps X was right to send him, he would need to keep a close eye on the situation. Yet at the same time, it meant more of this world’s nonsense.

Tails eventually convinced Itara to follow him to a resistance base so she could get looked at and lie down – and apparently caught up on what was going on – and the three headed out of the city mostly in silence. Zero surveyed their surroundings, taking careful note of the differences between the world they left behind and the one they arrived in. There was still heavy destruction, but if the fox was to be believed, it was caused by the scientist, rather than the Gods. In fact, other than the initial run-in with Chaos, there was no sign of the Gods and their destruction. Itara was lost in thought and confusion but Tails found the strength to speak up again soon enough.

“The nearest base is a bit of a run. Are you going to be alright to make the journey? You seem really out of it.”

Itara stared out, unable to respond for several moments, but shook her head at length. “I think I need the walk.” Then again, she didn’t even have time to rest from her last disaster-laden walk. Her knees were still scuffed up, everything was sore, her head was swimming, and she was absolutely drained from using so much power. As soon as they arrived at the base, she wanted a nap. Then answers.

The rest of the walk was equally silent. They tread carefully through the destroyed ghost town, Zero running point on their path out of the city to avoid any mishaps or run-ins with the sea of Eggman robots running about. They could see wide, towering robots several stories high in the distance making a bigger ruckus on the other side of the city but it thinned out considerably on their side. Itara nearly collapsed into the pasture once they were outside the city, both from exhaustion and the simple desire to lie on green grass again. She vaguely registered Tails mentioning something about ‘Green Hill’ but all her shock-ridden brain could conjure was the agreement that the hill they were on was, in fact, green and that she hadn’t seen any such thing in far too long. Tails cast her a worried glance at the comment, but said nothing as his wristlet suddenly beeped. He stopped to check it and glared once he did.

“What is it?” Zero questioned, knowing Itara wasn’t registering any conversation.

“Eggman,” Tails spat, his fury with the scientist overwhelming in his tone and expression. “He’s apparently nearby. We need to see what he’s up to.”

They both glanced over at Itara as she stood, wavering in place, struggling to stay awake. Zero sighed and reached down to pick her up, startling her back away, “Huh? What?”

“You’re slow and we need to make a side stop.”

She only stared out again, a small, tired smile spreading across her face. Metal used to call her slow. She missed him. Zero gave Tails the go ahead to lead the way and the two took off again at a much quicker pace without the need to wait for the zoned out, half asleep hedgehog dozing off against Zero’s back. Tails seemed to study the landscape with uncertainty as they passed through, Zero growing concerned that he was already lost. However, before long, the wristlet went off again and Tails came to a slow stop, suddenly waving Zero down and ducking behind an outcrop of rocks.

The two made themselves scarce and listened in on the nearby conversation. Zero reached up to shake the hedgehog awake, hushing her when she yelped at the sudden movement.

“And with that, the last of the Phantom Ruby prototypes are destroyed.” It was a voice neither Zero nor Itara recognized. It was deep and self-assured and came from a black and white jackal standing several feet in front of them. His back was to them, facing the all-too-familiar round shape of Dr. Robotnik in one of his many hovercrafts.

“It was a defective model, anyway,” Robotnik grumbled.

“Only a being with my strength of will could ever activate it, anyway.”

“It doesn’t matter now, with the lab in Mystic Jungle locked down. Which reminds me, didn’t you run into Sonic while you were there?” The question got a wide-eyed stare from Tails.

“Yes, but he was powerless against me. There is no need for concern.”

“You let the hedgehog _live_?! That is a great cause for concern!”

“For you, perhaps. He’s beaten you for decades. But I defeated him in our first meeting.” Itara’s brows furrowed in confusion. Defeated Sonic? She’s never seen this jackal before in any of her long lives.

“Phantom Ruby Prototypes?” Tails questioned, grabbing their attention, “And Sonic is… _alive_?” What? He suddenly ducked below the rocks and Zero moved further around the cliff to ensure they weren’t seen. After a moment, the conversation continued and the three went back to listening.

“We move forward with the plan, then. In three days, the Resistance will be erased. The world will be ashes, from which a glorious new Eggman Empire will arise!” Robotnik exclaimed.

“And the Resistance will yield to the power of the Phantom Ruby. All will submit.”

The conversation ended but Tails and Zero waited until they were sure the two had left before moving again. Tails walked out and went right to pacing, “Sonic is alive! But what is Eggman planning this time? I’ve never heard of this Phantom Ruby before, we need to look into this. I need to get this back to everyone.” He stopped and looked up at Zero and Itara, “We need to get back to headquarters, stat.”

Zero glanced back at the hedgehog on his back when she gave no response, finding her staring down with a look of perplexed confusion. Once she realized the others are looking to her for a response, she shook her head and focused in, “I’m inclined to agree but first, I need to know. Assume, hypothetically, that I have no idea what you’re talking about right now. What happened to Sonic, exactly?” Tails’ expression flashed between impatient and confused before finally settling on pained. “Consider it a possible side effect of my apparent head injury,” she added when it seemed to be an odd question.

Eventually, Tails sighed and crossed his arms, looking away from them and frowning, “If you really don’t know… six months back, the city came under attack by Robotnik. Robots everywhere. We did our best to fight them off but when Sonic finally showed up to take care of Egghead, himself… that jackal appeared. With others.” Tails’ ears dropped as he explained, “I couldn’t get a reading on him, no matter what I tried. It was five-on-one, I didn’t know what to do. Sonic… I thought… I thought we lost him. We haven’t seen him since the fight. It’s how Robotnik’s gotten so far. The entire world has fallen. Knuckles is doing his best, trying to keep up a Resistance, but without Sonic…”

Itara’s expression only grew more confused. Six months? Robotnik? None of this lined up. Perhaps it was best to keep a low profile, at least until she determined what was going on. Who was that jackal?

“But he’s alive!” Tails suddenly sprung to life again, looking up at them with impatience once more, “We have to get this back to headquarters! There’s still hope!”

Itara and Zero exchanged a silent conversation through glances that ended when Itara finally nodded and looked to Tails again, “Right. Then we ought to get going again, I should think. Lead the way.” She wasn’t sure what any of this meant or why they ended up _here_ , but she had a sneaking suspicion this was not her timeline. Again. She would need to be cautious about walking into the Resistance den, just in case. She didn’t know who would be there or what they knew or even her own status in whatever timeline this possibly was.

The run between what Itara finally recognized as Green Hill and the Resistance base outside of Metropolis did little to answer further questions. She realized why she hadn’t recognized anything right away, being an entire world away from Soleanna, but the destruction wasn’t nearly the same as she was used to. Unlike the world she left, cities were still mostly intact, forests remained standing, and the oceans were where they belonged. There was no sign of Solaris or either form of Gaia, and she questioned whether the Chaos they ran into was even the real one. It didn’t react the way the real Chaos should have. What was going on?

The gem in her bag, that she was sure was from her world, had all but dragged them to this exit. It knew where it was going, where it belonged. So how did this all connect? Why _here_?

The Resistance base, hidden in a deep section of forest well out of the city’s sight, came into view rather suddenly as Tails slowed to enter the building. There was decent tree coverage and Itara hadn’t even realized it was there until they were practically on top of it, unlike Sonic’s base back home, which stuck out like a sore thumb on a flat, burnt landscape. Tails led the way through the cement-covered hallways and through a massive draw-up sliding door to reveal what she assumed was the main command center. There was a console set up in the center of the room with a large screen on the back wall and several boxes set up around the edges of the room.

“Sonic!”

“Tails!”

“You’re alive!”

The two embraced as Itara motioned to Zero to put her back on her feet again, though kept to the far edge of the room to observe. In addition to Sonic and Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Silver, and Team Chaotix were all present. Wait, _Silver_? What was he doing here? _How_ was he here?! What was going on in this timeline?! She saw no sign of Blaze, though. Or Shadow, for that matter. At least that was some small relief. She decided to focus back in on the conversation to try and find out.

“The good news is: you’re safe,” Tails was saying, “The bad news is: Eggman said he has some plan that will destroy us all in three days.”

“Normally I’d laugh at an Eggman plan, but he’s already conquered most of the world at this point,” Knuckles frowned.

“Three days, huh? A lot can happen in that time!” Sonic grinned with all the optimism Itara had certainly not missed. He finally seemed to notice the extra eyes at the back the room, though, as he looked over and questioned, “Who are you?” All eyes fell to the hedgehog and robot as Itara took a deep breath.

“We came to join the fight, of course,” she lied, not wanting to causing any suspicion just yet. “But it’s been an incredibly long day and I think I’ve bumped my head at some point. Do you have anywhere I could possibly lie down and rest for a bit?” She reached up to rub her head, conveniently where she was getting a headache, anyway. She supposed it helped she was likely covered in scratches and bruises from the _last_ fight she joined, as well.

“Sure thing,” Knuckles stepped up, motioning for her to follow him, though they all watched Zero with a heavy amount of suspicion. Before she could jump to his defense, however, a warning popped up on Vex’s wristlet.

“I hate to interrupt, but we’re apparently under attack. Shadow is tearing through our forces in Sunset Heights, we may need to send in reinforcements,” he explained, causing the room to go silent and Itara to stop in her tracks. Shadow was an enemy in this timeline? Should she be working with Sonic, then? Her head was spinning and the sooner she laid down, the better. She turned desperately back to Knuckles and asked again about that place to lie down. She would deal with all of this after some rest. As Knuckles led her and the ever-watchful Zero back through another door, the conversations about Shadow continued behind them.

“Shadow, huh?” Sonic growled, “Last time I saw him, he was working for Eggman.”

“It’s possible he’s being controlled by that strange gem,” Silver suggested.

“Whatever it is, I’ll figure it out.”

Gem? The Phantom Ruby mentioned earlier? No. No. She would figure it out later. Her head was splitting. Knuckles led them down the hall a way to a small, empty room and swung the door open for her. “It’s not much, but its what we’ve got for now. I’ll come back in a bit to give you a better introduction to everything, but we’ve got a situation at the moment.”

“It’s fine. Do what you must,” Itara muttered, trudging into the room and nearly collapsing on the bed, Zero following after. Knuckles tossed them a final glance before closing the door and leaving. Once he was gone, she groaned loudly and wrapped her head in her hands for a solid minute. This was too much at once. None of it made sense. She was still trying to comprehend everything that happened before _Sigma_ , now there was all this! Should she follow Sonic? The Resistance? Figure out what’s going on with Robotnik? Look into the changes – wait.

All at once, her thoughts stopped dead in their tracks and she remained perfectly still while Zero watched her silently from the other side of the room. With a deep breath, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and stared out, muttering, “I’m a time traveler.”

“You are.”

“I’m back in my universe.”

“Yes.”

“Why am I stressing about being anywhere in any specific amount of time?”

“From what I can tell, you -.”

“That was rhetorical!” Itara shouted angrily as she stood back up properly and reached around to pull her backpack off. “I’m going to time travel to find out what’s going on here. I’m going to readjust my brain. And I’m going to take a _long_ nap,” she explained as deadpan and calm as physically possible. “We’re somehow in the same time as when we left, but obviously something is off here. I’m going to go back to this event six months ago and _watch_ what happened, myself.” Obviously, the differences ran deeper than this event with Sonic so she would likely need to travel back further, but it was a start to the current situation to at least determine whose side she should be on. “I don’t want to get involved in anything that’s going on until I’m sure of the situation. Stay here, I’ll be back.”

“Very well. Don’t get lost.”

“Shut up.” With that, she reached out to the timelines and sighed in relief when she had access to them again. They felt different, but she imagined there were a number of good reasons for that. She found the date she was looking for and stepped through, disappearing from sight. Zero stood, waiting and watching, wondering what she would find and how long it would take her to return. Should he explore their headquarters more? Do his own digging? But as he was pushing off the wall to do just that, the portal opened and she returned, looking distinctly more ragged and confused than when she left.

“I don’t understand anything.” Her eyes were wide and she stared off at a far corner, though didn’t actually seem to see anything before her. There were new tears in the clothes she’d worn for – to him – all of a day, but more than anything, that strange doll was back in her arms, whole again. “I don’t understand anything at all,” she repeated, falling back on the bed and continuing to stare off, “Nothing’s right. Soleanna isn’t right. RK was destroyed. Metal was in lockdown. Our house was empty, like we’d never been there in the first place.” She looked up at him finally, the dread filling every fiber of her being, “There was no battle of the Gods eight years ago. There was no Mephiles. No Iblis. _Nothing_ in my timeline _ever_ happened! _I_ don’t exist! Did my travel to your dimension mess mine up entirely somehow?! Did my existence get erased while I was gone?!”

As she wrapped her arms tighter around the silent, two-tailed fox doll and pulled her legs up onto the bed to rock back and forth, Zero could only watch in confusion. “Is it possibly we’re in an alternate timeline altogether?”

She went silent for several long moments before looking up at him with wide eyes, “That’s it! That’s got to be it, we’re in an alternate timeline. I’m not actually _home_ yet!” But her eyes narrowed in confusion again as she looked towards her dropped backpack, “But then… why here? This problem with Eggman isn’t our concern. Why would we get pulled _here_?”

“Perhaps it’s that ruby they spoke of.”

“The… ruby. Right. Right!” She jumped up off the bed again, though nearly crashed to the floor the second she did, causing Zero to sigh heavily. He was _definitely_ starting to understand why the other robots watched over her so closely. She was a mess. As much as she insisted otherwise. Once she had herself readjusted and her backpack pulled on, she turned back to him and squared up, “We need to find that jackal. I’m going to- wait.” She stopped short and reached back to grab her notebook but stopped short again. None of the pages were blacked-out anymore. Not the ones from her world, not the ones from Zero’s, and none of the later pages. Her book was entirely back to normal. “So… this is it? This is what was causing my notebook to act up. Whatever’s going on in this world is what’s affecting the other dimensions. It’s _got_ to be that ruby!”

“If the Robotnik of this world has something powerful enough to affect not only other timelines in his own dimension but _mine as well_ , what do you intend to do against it? The reason you sought this power out was because it was stronger than the Gods, right? So what do _you_ intend to do against it?”

“I…” All the color immediately faded from her face as her posture crumbled in on itself. He had a point. The entire purpose of this long, drawn out expedition was to find a power strong enough to defeat the Gods. If someone like Robotnik had that kind of power, he wouldn’t give it up without a fight and overpowering her would be all too easy. However, after a moment, she huffed and shook her head, squaring back up, “I’ll figure it out. If I don’t exist here, no one should expect my powers. That was my advantage in the original timeline, no one knowing who or what I was, I can use that advantage again. Which means, for now, we need to keep our real identities under wraps. Until I can learn more.”

She stopped again and looked back and forth between the bed and the door, debating for several minutes before sighing. Her backpack shuffled off her shoulders and thudded to the floor as she crawled back over to the bed, “I need that nap, after all. We can go chasing after Sonic and Shadow and that jackal later. Wake me up if anything else happens, alright?”

“Do I look like your alarm clock?” Zero growled, getting a scowl from the hedgehog.

“Fine. Then I’ll just sleep for hours and you can sit there being bored all day. I don’t care. I’m going to sleep.” And with a final huff, she curled up, closed her eyes, and blocked the outside world out.


	16. Infinite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itara goes face-first into this new timeline's problems and comes out... a little worse for wear.

Itara stared up at the cozy little cottage on the outskirts of town, surrounded by miles of forest with a small brook on one side. The cabin was small, but it had everything a hedgehog could need to live quietly. Bed, TV, a tub big enough to submerge fully under the water, and an entire room of fully decked-out computers. She strolled inside and headed right for the kitchen, knowing exactly where the jar of cookies was, knowing they’d been placed there specifically for her, and was pleasantly surprised to find a full box of candied brownies in there, as well.

With her cookies, brownies, and milk in hand, she continued to the couch, setting her snacks beside her, and picked up the small handheld from the coffee table. She had recently started a new game and it was already her favorite. She played it with a group of friends she’d met in some place she couldn’t remember. They got together somewhere she couldn’t recall every weekend to play. It was a lot of fun. With a quick flick of the TV’s remote, the newest episode of her favorite show turned on and she snuggled down into the cushy couch. Everything was nice.

If not a bit lonely.

Something was missing. Shouldn’t someone be with her? She looked around the dark, empty cabin. The details looked less and less familiar the longer she looked. She didn’t recognize the layout anymore. Whose couch was this? Where was her bedroom? She reached for a cookie. Her face scrunched up. What was wrong with this cookie? It wasn’t even sweet. She picked her handheld up but it crumbled to ashes in her hands. The TV shattered and sparked. The edges of the walls smoldered. Everything smelled burnt. What was happening?

She stared at the sparking TV. It reminded her of something. What was it? The sparks. The electronics. The cables. The shiny metal inner workings. Mechanical. Robotic. Sparking.

* * *

“SPARKY!” Itara jolted up and her head became a swirling hurricane. She swayed and leaned back, closing her eyes to try and stop the spinning. “Ow, ow, ow.”

“Can you never just sleep normally?”

That voice wasn’t Sparky. Or RK. She opened one eye to look up at the towering figure and the sharp blue eyes glowering down at her. “Zero?” That’s right. He came with her, didn’t he? She reached up to rub her head and readjusted to sit up, “What happened? How long was I asleep for?” She still felt exhausted and the driving need to find RK and Metal for some reason.

“You’ve only been asleep for a couple hours.” That wasn’t so bad. “Though you’ve missed a bit of an uproar during those two hours.” That sounded bad. “I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky you didn’t blow up this time.”

She scowled up at him but sighed and dropped her head and arm. Dynamo, the fight with Sigma, the strange new world, the conversation with Tails. It was all coming back to her and it really wasn’t helping her spinning head. But she supposed there were more important issues to take care of. She looked around to take stock of their location. It was a small room with the bare minimum requirements for comfort. Two beds against either wall, a desk between them, and a small closet next to the door. She was on one bed but Zero was leaning against the far wall.

“Catch me up,” she sighed.

“From what I’ve heard, Sonic is still dealing with Shadow in Sunset Heights but a report came in that Robotnik’s apparent base of operations in Metropolis is undermanned. The full force of the Resistance has met in the city for a full-frontal assault.”

Itara gave it a moment of consideration and took a quick look at her journal. There were notes on the assault on Metropolis. She shook her head and looked up to Zero again. “The attack on Metropolis is going to be a failure no matter what, it seems, but there may be a prime opportunity to look into that jackal that I intend to take.” She shut her eyes, though, and leaned back, going silent. She just needed a minute to recoup. There was too much, too suddenly, and her dream was bothering her. After several minutes of silence, she opened her eyes again with a heavy sigh and looked up, “You stay here. There’s no point in getting involved with the current fight.”

Zero’s eyes narrowed but he shrugged, “If you’re sure.”

“I have no intention of fighting him, if you’re concerned about that. Like you said before, my power probably doesn’t stack up. But if I can learn something about him and this Phantom Ruby, all the better.” She glanced towards her backpack, wondering if it was possibly related to the gem she found in Zero’s world. There was a lot to learn in this world. It was a good thing she had her time travel back. “I’ll be back soon, then.”

She stuffed Kipper into her backpack, pulled it on, and disappeared into the shadows. She was still tired. Her sleep wasn’t long _or_ restful, but it was something. She’d run on less before, plenty. She’d investigate the jackal - see what he was like - but keep her distance. Then she’d move on to the situation with Shadow, find out why he’s an enemy and whose side she should be on. Then she intended to look further into Soleanna. She’d seen it in the past but she wanted to see it now. She may or may not also have been considering rescuing RK and reactivating Metal Sonic in her trips, but that would require more consideration.

She stepped back out of the shadows on a rooftop overlooking a decent portion of the city. She hardly recognized this version of Metropolis. She didn’t know if it was the alternate timeline or the Robotnik takeover but everything was much cleaner and more streamlined, in what others might consider a futuristic tone. Itara thought differently of the various futures, but that was a discussion for another day. Or never. For now, her focus was on the black and white jackal standing near the edge.

His body was mostly black with a white-tipped tail and long, wild white hair under a shiny silver mask that covered his ears. Itara’s brows furrowed at the sight of the odd glint on the mask. He stood at the edge with his arms crossed, watching what she assumed was the fallback of the Resistance, while apparently talking to himself.

“More ants to crush. I wonder if this world can offer me a real challenge.”

His attitude was certainly something. But what interested her was the aura coming off him. It was powerful. Familiar. So… strangely familiar. It drew her near without her realizing it, at least, not until he turned around, revealing the red and black striped gem embedded in his chest.

“And as if to answer, the world sends me a trembling child.”

His mask covered one eye entirely but the other side had a red glass and behind it was a burning yellow eye. Itara couldn’t take her eyes off it. She’s seen that mask before. But then he activated the gem in his chest, the same strange gem she’d found in Zero’s world, that was in her backpack at that very moment, and the familiarity hit her like a flaming wall. The jackal was beside her before even she realized he was there, threatening something about fighting or running away. But none of it registered as she took a staggering step back, staring at him in horror and shock. To him, it probably looked like the fear of a Resistance fighter coming face to face with the final boss. That she’d accidentally stumbled upon the biggest threat to the Resistance, alone, and feared for her life.

But that wasn’t it.

It was the familiarity she finally pinpointed about the strange gem’s power. The image in the mirror. The shadow in the crystal.

She had to be wrong.

Her eyes shut tight as she attempted to recompose herself. She had to be wrong. She was just looking for familiarity where there was none. She was just thrown off by an overly long, exhausting couple of days. That’s all. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, opening her eyes again to look up at the jackal floating above her. Unfortunately, he seemed to take her response as a challenge and laughed.

“Fine. Then I will teach you fear, then pain. Then, well, at least the fear and pain will end.” And before Itara could talk him down, the world fizzled again and she found herself suddenly walled in and a stream of those red and black boxes heading straight for her. Wait. Red and black boxes?

“Ah! N-No! Wait!” she screeched, stumbling out of the way of the blocks in a panic.

“You must be a straggler that was left behind,” the jackal laughed.

Itara dove out of the way of the blocks, cursing when she scraped her already sore knees, though had little time to react before she had to roll out of the way again. “N-No, I-!”

“The strong will always vanquish the weak. You have only your own frailty to blame.”

“Excuse you!” Itara scowled up at him before diving out of the way of another attack, “stop that!” However, her demands went unheard as the floor below her was suddenly covered in the boxes, “No, no, no, no!” Luckily the entire floor wasn’t covered, she just had to move. Or teleport. She sunk into a shadow and reappeared in the middle of the room on the… previously clear floor. The boxes had followed her.

But then she remembered the fight with Sigma and, in a brief moment of exhaustion and disinterest, decided to take a gamble. Screw it, she refused to move. Let him throw his boxes where he wanted, she didn’t care. She was tired and her nap was plagued with weird dreams and it’s not like he could actually kill her, anyway. Well, now that she thought about it, what would happen if she ‘died’ here? Back home, if her body was injured enough to die, her consciousness would simply return to Solaris. But what if she was in another dimension or timeline?

She shut her eyes, bracing for impact, while the jackal laughed above her. Something about weaknesses, she stopped listening. She wanted RK to punch him. However, his laughter suddenly stopped short before anything happened. She waited a moment, just to be sure, but eventually opened one eye and looked up at him. She was surrounded in those boxes and, judging by how they affected the others, she should have been in bad shape. But she was fine.

She and the jackal were equally confused.

“What?! How is that possible?! Who are you?!”

Itara blinked, reaching out to touch the box but her hand glided right through as if there was nothing. The same as the fight with Sigma. The boxes had no more form than the sludge balls. So, she was right, but what did this mean? She didn’t understand and the boxes were dispersed before she could investigate further. However, they were immediately replaced with several cannons and she didn’t want to chance that one as she bolted to the side, only to get kicked in the back by the jackal, sending her flying back on her face.

“No matter. They only have two days left. Let them contemplate the inevitable until I end it all,” the jackal stated calmly before disappearing, leaving a tired, aching, and frustrated Itara to lie where she was.

End it all. She’d heard that before.

She needed to look into the jackal and his power further. But for the love of Chaos did she not want to move ever again. She lifted her head enough to ensure she was alone, but then immediately dropped it back down with a groan. She was not built to fight. She whined into the floor for RK, but eventually pushed herself back up to a sitting position. That stupid jackal was going to regret putting her through so much agony. Only Shadow got away with _that_. Whoever he was, _whatever_ that Ruby was, he was going to regret underestimating her.

With a heavy groan and grunt, she pushed herself back to her feet, checked her backpack, and walked back outside. Everything ached. As soon as she returned to the base, she was going to give the Resistance a _piece of her mind_ about this jackal, considering she didn’t have RK or Metal to whine to. She’d had enough of this world already and she just got here. World-ending Gods she could deal with, but this was nonsense.

By the time she found the energy to teleport back to the hideout, with no remaining energy to bother arriving on time, the entire rest of the force was long since back and going about their repairs and recoveries. She hunted Zero down in the room, pulled Kipper out of her backpack, and led the way back to the main meeting room of the Resistance base. It only occurred to her, after she burst into the room of heroes, that this group would be less used to her sudden appearances compared to back home. However, she’d already gotten this far and refused to back down, even as Shadow immediately jumped to the defensive. In a way, it reminded her of home. The console at the center. The group of mobians present. The aura of defeat going around. But there were a few more additions on their side and two less on hers. There would be no RK to get between her and Shadow this time.

Wait.

_Shadow?!_

Team Dark, minus one broken Omega.

The Chaotix.

Sonic. Knuckles. Tails.

Amy. Silver.

She still didn’t understand why Silver was in this timeline. He still had over a hundred years until he was supposed to even exist. Could his presence now have something to do with the missing Mephiles event?

Unaware that she’d been staring the other hedgehogs down rather heavily, Itara was startled back into reality when Knuckles filled her entire line of vision and broke her out of her thoughts. She jumped and nearly fell but managed to catch her footing for once and shook her head. Questions for later. For now, her focus was on the jackal and the Phantom Ruby. And Shadow. Wasn’t he working for the other team?

“Hey, you’re the ones that helped Tails out earlier, right?” Sonic spoke up when an awkward silence filled the on-edge room.

Itara blinked, but slowly nodded, “Oh, uh… yes. We just… s-sort of happened upon him, that’s all.”

“Well, thanks for that,” Sonic grinned, reaching over to place a hand on the fox’s head, “I’d be pretty upset if something ever happened to him.” Itara eyed them carefully, deciding to keep her commentary on how it was _him_ that everyone seemed to be upset about until recently to herself.

“You said you were here to join the Resistance earlier, right?” Knuckles questioned, looking over her, though cast a long, wary glance at the much taller robot standing, seemingly disinterested in everything, just behind her.

“Um… yes. To a degree. I suppose.” She debated for a long moment, studying Tails, casting a sideways glance towards Shadow, before looking back to Knuckles. Even in this world, he took point as Commander. Then again, he was the head of the Chaotix, it made sense. Shadow was strong, Sonic was relentless, but Knuckles made for a great source of motivation. It made her desperately miss RK and apparently that was showing on her face as the air around the room defused rather suddenly. Knuckles’ hard gaze fell to a confused frown while Sonic moved closer to apparently look over her.

“Hey, it’ll be alright. Just because things fell short at Metropolis doesn’t mean we lost. In fact, Shadow gave us some pretty big news about how that Infinite guy works. We’ll be ready for him next time!” Sonic grinned in an attempt to cheer her up. So, his name was Infinite. She watched him strangely, unsure of the need for cheering up. She wasn’t upset about the attack on Metropolis, she just felt homesick.

With a quick shake of her head, she reached up to slap her face and recollect herself, letting out a long, slow breath. “I know. It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m just…,” she looked around again and sighed heavily. She was going to need their help one way or another, wasn’t she? Well, she agreed to work with the Sonic back in her world, what was one more? Especially if Shadow seemed to… switch sides again? A quick mental run-through of options later, she squared back up and stood up straight to face them, “I need to know everything you’ve got on that Phantom Ruby. It’s causing a lot of problems and not just _here_ , but in other dimensions.” The room went dead silent as she continued, motioning between her and Zero, “We’re not from this world. You can probably guess as much with Zero, but while I’m from this… _general_ world, I’m from a different timeline. I’m not even from this _continent_. I’m from Soleanna.” She looked to Silver when he gave a hint of recognition at the name. Was it possible he was out of his time again, as well? Maybe the Phantom Ruby pulled him from this world’s future?

“Wait, are you serious?” Knuckles questioned.

She nodded and looked to Tails, “That’s why I was so caught off-guard when we met. When I left my world, it was… well, in a drastically different shape. In my timeline, Chaos, Gaia, and Solaris are all awake and destroying the earth. Chaos absorbed all the emeralds and most of the world’s population is already gone. Similarly, the world Zero’s from was plagued with a strange energy causing robots to go crazy and people to go missing. I think it’s all connected to what your Robotnik is doing here with the Phantom Ruby. I’m starting to believe that saving your world from its power will, in turn, also save ours.”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold up,” Sonic interrupted, the unease spread clear across his face as the rest of the room struggled to grasp the entirety of her explanation, “Chaos _and_ Gaia are active in your world? At the _same time_?!”

“And Solaris, yes,” Itara nodded, “and it’s exactly as destructive as it sounds.” She looked to Silver, “You… know Solaris, right?”

“The Sun God of Soleanna, right?” She sighed in relief. At least he knew. Good. “But why are they all active? And attacking?”

“Yeah, I thought I dealt with Chaos already,” Sonic huffed, crossing his arms.

“And I thought Dark and Light Gaia only awaken once every thousand years,” Tails added.

“You did and they do,” Itara answered flatly, “I… think they woke up because of Solaris. Chaos and Gaia are the only ones keeping Solaris from destroying the timeline, entirely. It’s a long story and it… doesn’t seemed to have happened here, but in my world, Solaris went mad when the Soleanna Royal Family corrupted his flame. He separated himself in a last-ditch effort to preserve the world but the damage was already done. He joined to become Solaris again years later, disappeared for a while – likely to recover – but once he returned, he set the world aflame. I believe Chaos and Gaia could sense the corruption and reawakened to fight him. Solaris has the power to destroy time, itself, so you can imagine why the other Gods wouldn’t take kindly to that.”

“So, you’re saying there’s a battle of the Gods going on in your world right now and what’s going on in this world is somehow affecting that?” Tails asked, baffled.

“It’s less currently affecting it and more… can possibly affect it. There may be something more that started it all but… if my theories are correct, the power of the Phantom Ruby is what I’ve been searching for to put a stop to the fight. I just… don’t know how or why yet.”

“Then why you? Who are you?” Shadow stepped up, glaring down at her. Suspicious as always but she turned to him with equal suspicion. “Why were _you_ sent instead of your world’s Sonic? Or me?” She always hated not being able to tell him _exactly_ who she was but it sounded like this Shadow wouldn’t even know Mephiles if she did. It was disappointing, to a degree, but it didn’t change the fact that she still needed a believable answer that wouldn’t make her look suspicious but also wouldn’t limit the use of her powers at any point. The last thing she needed right now was a limit on her powers. But first.

“Before I answer that, I thought _you_ were fighting for the other side?” She narrowed her eyes, “Last I heard, you were wrecking a city and Sonic had to go fight you off. Why are you here?”

“That’s none of _your_ concern,” Shadow hissed.

Sonic shook his head and sighed, “Don’t worry about that, it turned out it wasn’t actually Shadow, himself. It was a fake.”

“A fake?” Itara questioned, eyeing the both of them, but when Sonic nudged her to explain her situation again, with promises that he would explain what he meant, she bit her lip and searched for an answer. Pulling her book out would look suspicious, like she was making things up. Maybe she should just travel back and restart this entire conversation. Then again, she would need to know where her answers got her in the first place. Under the stress of all the eyes watching, and Shadow’s close proximity, the most ridiculous explanation she could think of suddenly came to her. Something that would explain why she would be sent instead of them, but also possibly explain her powers. It was absolutely doomed to fail, she was sure, but her curiosity won out as she stared Shadow dead in the face, blinking, and responded:

“You sent me.”

“What? Why would I do that?” Suspicion turned to disbelief and Itara felt the unparalleled urge to run with the idea.

“Because where I come from, you’re…,” she gave it a moment of fake struggle, as if she was debating how to explain it, her face scrunching up in feigned strain, “I guess it’s kind of like an uncle? You and I were created in similar ways. We met during the Soleanna fiasco and you’ve sort of been looking after me since. There’s a much longer story to it but that’s the short version. You and Sonic are busy keeping the Gods at bay, so you sent me.”

Shadow jerked back in disbelief while the rest of the room looked between them in shock. After a moment Sonic burst into a fit of laughter, nearly falling over, and gaining him Shadow’s furious gaze. He struggled with a response for several minutes before finally grunting in annoyance and spinning on his heel, returning to the wall to sulk in silence again. Itara bit her lip again to avoid joining Sonic’s laughter and instead took a moment to compose herself. She obviously wouldn’t be explaining that she’d been living with Sonic and Knuckles’ robotic counterparts the entire time, so Shadow felt like the next best explanation. It was as painful as it was entertaining.

“Well, that’s an image I’m never getting out of my head now,” Knuckles muttered as he reached up to rub his head.

“Hang on, you said ‘created’,” Tails caught on, finally bringing Sonic’s laughter to a hushed muffle.

“Oh, uh, yes. Instead of being a mix of Black Doom and Chaos’ power, I’m… well, I’m a mix of mobian and Solaris. I’m not quite as powerful as Shadow but he was able to teach me to use my powers where no one else really could,” Itara nodded. She just hoped her Shadow never found out about this. He already had it out for her enough as is, essentially putting him in Mephiles’ role would only end her existence that much quicker. But the thought brought her back to the fight with Infinite and her ability to essentially ignore the red blocks where others couldn’t. As well as the power she thought she felt within the Phantom Ruby. If she hadn’t imagined it after all that would have… terrifying implications.

She looked up again as Tails attempted to keep Shadow from pulverizing Sonic as well as quiet Sonic’s laughter. The black and red hedgehog tossed a furious scowl her way for creating the situation and she only looked away to feign ignorance. It was worth it to see the look on his face. But once the situation was handled, she looked back again, “But now that I’ve explained where I come from, we should get back to the point of the Phantom Ruby. I was sent here to find out if it can help and I don’t want to go back to my Shadow empty-handed.”

“Right,” Knuckles interrupted, standing back up straight while Tails pulled Sonic back to the corner to keep him further away from Shadow, “Well, as luck would have it, our Shadow came back with some interesting information about it.” Amy pulled the page of notes about the Ruby up on the console for everyone to take a look, including the recent addition, “It seems the actual power of the Phantom Ruby is some kind of virtual reality. It warps reality around you, which is why Operation Big Wave fell apart. Infinite appeared and swapped gravity around Metropolis and scattered our troops in the confusion.”

“But none of it is actually real,” Shadow added, though seemed no calmer, “you can see and feel the effects of what it creates, but it’s all fake.”

“So those familiar faces before?” Sonic questioned, having finally recollected himself.

“Fakes. The problem is that, according to the information Rouge gathered, Infinite can create them endlessly and while their bodies are clones, their power is the same as the original.”

“And fight after fight, he can just keep cranking them out?”

“Correct.”

“So that’s why Chaos vanished so easily,” Itara exclaimed, getting a nod from Tails, “Well, on the one hand, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with the real Chaos here. But the issue of him being able to create clones endlessly is concerning.”

“Rouge, have you found the info I was looking for?” Shadow questioned, turning back to the bat at the back of the room. She had a much smaller computer set up in her lap and had been busy on it since Itara entered.

“No, not yet, but I do have reports that Eggman’s database is located at Chemical Plant. If we can get in there and into the computer, we might find something that could help.”

“Sounds like a promising enough lead to me,” Sonic cut in, jumping back into the conversation, “We have to figure out the secret to Infinite’s power and this virtual reality. Tails, think you can handle this?”

“Sure thing, Sonic,” Tails nodded, “I’ll head out first thing in the morning.”

“I’ll go with you,” Itara volunteered, “I need to know what that Ruby is.” If he was heading out in the morning it gave her plenty of time to rest up, get her injuries taken care of, and look into the rest of the Resistance. Particularly to see what Silver could offer. She wanted to know why he was here and if Blaze was involved at any point, as well. If she was correct about the Phantom Ruby, then it was possible Blaze would be a key point of interest, though she didn’t seem to be present at the moment.


	17. Red Gate Bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zero heads to Red Gate Bridge with Sonic while Itara accompanies Tails to Chemical Plant. Terrible realizations are had all around.

Once discussions about Chemical Plant were hashed out and Tails was content, the group separated to go about their day as needed. Itara knew she needed to get some scrapes looked at, especially after the fight with Infinite, but she wanted more information that didn’t need to involve the entire group. She waited until it was only Silver, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails left in the room, then crossed over to Silver. “Do you have a moment?”

“Yeah, of course.” He gave a quick nod to Amy before following Itara to the other side of the room, “You said you were from Soleanna, right?”

Itara turned back to him and nodded, moving Kipper to one hand so she could cross her arms behind her back. “I was created in a lab just outside of it, yes. I’ve traveled a lot, but my home is in Soleanna. You’re… also from the area, right?”

Silver nodded, “Born and raised, but I came here to join Sonic’s team… about three years ago, I think.”

Itara’s brow furrowed in confusion as she looked off to the side. He’d been in this time for at least three years, though it sounded as though he’d been here this entire time. She looked up at him again, tilting her head, “Do you… know anything about… Iblis?” She wasn’t sure how much to reveal about the situation, but she thought perhaps a name was fine. If he knew, she’d have her answer, if he didn’t, she could just pass it off as something from her world. The uncertainty that spread across the other hedgehog’s face told her all the needed to know, though. Before the ‘no’ even left his mouth, Itara had her answer. He questioned her about it, but she waved it off, explaining it away as a local legend from her world. She was sure of it now, the incident never happened here. “What about Solaris’ Flame? Does the royal family still have possession of it?”

“The flame? The one that’s said to be held within the princess?” That was it. Her ears perked as she prodded him for more information, “I don’t know how different things are in your world, but from what I understand, Solaris blessed the royal family with his flame millennia ago and it’s reborn within a descendant every other generation. The current princess is the holder of the flame.”

“Have there been any incidents regarding the flame or the princess? Say… eleven years ago?”

He struggled for several long minutes before shaking his head, “I… don’t think so? Not that I can remember. Why?”

Would Silver even remember if it did happen? The thought only then occurred to her that, if the incident went as it normally would have, without her intervention, time would have been resent. No one even remembered it in her timeline, and it turned out drastically different because of her. Perhaps she was asking the wrong person, after all. But the only one that remembered in her timeline, after being exposed to her powers was…

With a heavy sigh, she gave Silver a forced smile, “Thank you for the information. That’s all I needed.”

“Wait, why did you need to know? Is it related to the Phantom Ruby?”

She shook her head, “Not necessarily. I just wanted to see how different this world was from mine, that’s all. I knew you in my timeline, as well, so I thought you’d be the person to ask.” Though, when she knew Silver, it was two-hundred years into a destroyed future and he and Blaze were being manipulated by Mephiles to hunt Sonic down. Not helping Sonic hunt Robotnik down. She headed out of the meeting room, with Zero close behind as he spoke up for the first time in hours.

“What are you thinking?”

“That I have to have an annoying conversation with an infuriating hedgehog. I’ll explain later, after I know more. There’s… _something_ … about the Phantom Ruby. But I don’t want to jump to conclusions. Let’s just… get some rest for the night. Tomorrow’s going to be a full day. Were you able to find a place to charge up?”

“Yes. It’s rudimentary, but I should be able to refill a basic energy level. So long as we aren’t in this world _too_ much longer,” Zero glared as they entered the room again, closing the door to avoid prying ears.

“I don’t intend to be,” Itara shook her head, shuffling her shoes and backpack off and climbing into the bed, “If worse comes to worse, I can probably steal some of Robotnik’s tech to build a better charging station but hopefully we can get out of here before that becomes necessary.”

“Have you always been such a little thief?”

Itara glared up at him, but her ears pinned against her head as she grumbled, “It’s better I have it than him, isn’t it?”

“Is it?”

There was silence before Itara shook her head and decided she was done talking about it. She only stole from Robotnik. _Mostly_. What did it matter, either way? She spent the rest of the evening distinctly ignoring Zero again as she went on a hunt for a first aid kit. Her everything was sore and she needed to wrap her knees up again. She quietly thanked X for the bandages he gave her before while she replaced the remainder of scuffed-up, barely hanging-on bandages. Afterwards, she headed for the room again to try and get more sleep than before.

However, the fear of blowing the base up won out over the need for rest and she, instead, spent the evening traveling around the world to study the differences between this world and her own. She slept outside overnight, half a world away from the Metropolis base, and went right back to time traveling once she got some much-needed sleep. She learned quite a bit during her travels, including one particularly shocking revelation about the princess of Soleanna, but she also accidentally and completely annihilated her shoes in the process. They were banged up and falling apart to begin with – while she could find replacement clothes in Zero’s world, shoes were completely out of the question – but they finally gave in during an attempt to flee some roaming badniks, and a massive snake, around Mystic Jungle.

Luckily, she was back in her world where mobians existed again and shoes came in appropriate shapes and sizes again. Unluckily, everything she found that wasn’t burnt to a crisp or missing its match was in the wrong size for her very, very tiny feet. She did finally get some small level of amusement, however, when she managed to find a pair of shoes almost _identical_ to Shadow’s. She found them in one of Robotnik’s many abandoned labs – of which he had far more than even she was used to – but she couldn’t resist the urge to try them out. Especially when she realized they were greyed out in color. The flashbacks were well-worth the look on Shadow’s face when she finally returned to the Resistance base and ran into him. Of course, there was the constant fear of the rockets activating on their own considering she had no idea how they worked, but if she was going to wear shoes that didn’t fit anyway, she may as well mock Shadow while she was at it. At least until she found some that _did_ fit.

But now it was time to get ready to leave for Chemical Plant. Itara sighed as she finished stuffing everything she would need into the small backpack. Prototype ruby, notebook, Kipper… extra socks. With a huff, she stood back up and pulled the backpack on, tapping the front of the awkwardly-sized shoes against the ground to make sure they would stay on. With the shoes checked and her bag pulled on, she gave a quick nod of confirmation before turning to Zero, who stood nearby listening to the goings-on. “Can you stay here for this one?” The towering robot turned an accusatory glare down at her, his eyes narrowing further at his continued exclusion from the fights, but she threw her hands up in defense, “I looked into the future a bit, as much as I could anyway but something’s going to happen later that would benefit from your presence.”

“What is it?”

She gave a quick, wary glance around the room full of Resistance fighters, and enemies in another world, before returning her gaze to him, “ _other world allies_.” His eyes narrowed again until he realized what she was saying. Once she was sure he knew what she meant, she continued, fidgeting with the straps on her backpack and looking away, “I feel like, if I go, I may give something away. But I don’t think you’ll have that problem. They’re no doubt an enemy in this world, so don’t hold back if you fight him, but if you can get information from the encounter, I would appreciate it.”

Zero remained silent as he studied her closely, though looked away again, “Which one?”

“…Sparky.”

“Hm. Not the one I would have preferred to fight, but fine.” Itara eyed him for the comment but she shouldn’t have been surprised. Even if Metal was the more antagonistic of the two, Zero didn’t keep his interest in rematching RK exactly _hidden_. “Are you sure you can handle going alone?”

“Tch, of course I can!” A few side-eyed glances from the group around them brought her voice back down to the hushed whisper as her ears dropped and she looked away again, “I’ll be with Tails. It’s fine.”

“That one didn’t look like much of a fighter.”

“Well, he’s not… really. But I also intend to avoid as much fighting as possible. I have my time travel abilities back and my notebook is working properly again, we should be able to handle it just fine.” Zero studied her closely but shrugged. Before long, Tails motioned to her that he was ready to go and she nodded. “Right, well, I’m going to go find out what I can about the Phantom Ruby, you stay here and wait for news on… the _thing_.”

Zero nodded and watched the two take off while the rest of the room went about their businesses, casting him the occasional side glance, which he promptly ignored. He didn’t want to be here in the first place and, so far, X’s insistence that he was needed was wrong. But he supposed this information about the Phantom Ruby was good to know, either way. The apparent prototype was removed from his world, which he assumed meant his world would return to normal, but X was right, they should be thorough.

He couldn’t help but wonder if _he_ could defeat this Infinite on his own.

The reality altering effects of the ruby were troublesome, but not impossible to work around. Especially knowing what he did now. Perhaps he would see while out hunting down this world’s Metal Sonic. But would it be the real one or a fake? That was likely what Itara wanted him to find out.

“Man, I hate just sitting around waiting,” Knuckles whined across the room. Zero silently wondered how the organic counterpart held up to his robotic version in terms of strength and considered offering a brawl to find out. However, the pink one known as ‘Amy’ responded before he could.

Her face scrunched up in frustration at the computer screen she’d been working on for some time as she growled, “Way to jinx it, Knuckles. Metal Sonic’s been sighted in the city!”

“Is it another fake?” Shadow questioned. Zero would have been impressed with the fact that he caught on just as quickly, but it was a fairly obvious connection to make considering the situation.

Sonic, who jumped to attention at the mention of his metal counterpart and arch nemesis, furrowed his brow in confusion at the question, “Why would they bother making a fake of something that already isn’t real? Couldn’t Egghead just build more?” Zero wasn’t sure how much offense he took to the insinuation, but before any response could be given, Sonic shook his head and grinned, “Either way, it’s gettin’ wrecked!”

“Be careful out there, Sonic, you’re still recovering after all,” Amy warned as she pulled up a map to show him where the robot was.

“Ah, don’t worry about me, I’ve beaten that pile of nuts and bolts countless times!” the blue hedgehog grinned. However, his grin turned back to confusion once he realized Zero was following him to the door.

“I’m going with you,” was all he offered for explanation.

Sonic looked warily between the much taller robot and the group behind them, getting little more than confused shrugs from the others, before shrugging himself. His grin returned and he gave the bot a thumbs up, “Well alright. Just hope you can keep up!” And with that, he was out the door and gone. Zero gave a mental sigh, but followed after the obnoxious hero hedgehog. He’d already grown tired of this one’s mouth, but the prospect of a decent fight was enough to ignore the mobian.

Red Gate Bridge. It was a bit of a run, but not too far. Sonic was already far ahead of him but the further he got from the loudmouth, the better. He had come to understand why Itara and the others despised him as much as they did over the years. Chipper and upbeat and optimistic, he was used to. X was optimistic to the point of naivety, but X also took situations seriously when he needed to. Sonic seemed to be far cockier and full of himself, seeing most situations as a joke and taking almost nothing seriously. It wasn’t someone he saw himself spending a lot of time around. In a way, Sonic reminded him of Dynamo and that one, stray thought caused a sudden and unrelenting, unbridled rage. Luckily, he was on his way to fight one of the robots to release some of the sudden aggression.

The bridge came into view before long, and the blue hedgehog with it, as he seemed to be waiting for him to catch up. “Too slow!” the hedgehog jokingly called out but, as luck would have it, the bridge rather suddenly crashed from underneath him. A massive, towering robot shattered the bridge to pieces and sent the hero hedgehog sprawling to remain standing. The robot in question wasn’t Metal Sonic, at least, so far as Zero could tell, but it was several stories high and offered a brief release of steam before they continued on.

While Sonic zipped his way around the crumbling bridge pieces and swinging arms of the large, round bot, Zero studied the lumbering body for a point of weakness. Judging by the damage Sonic was already doing to its hull, he didn’t imagine it was all that impenetrable. His saber could likely cut through it easily enough. He watched with sharp eyes as Sonic kept the robot’s attention, waiting until it nearly had its back to him, swinging its long arms into the side of the nearby mountain and breaking several pieces off, causing part of the arm to bend. Zero took the opportunity and used the falling rubble and broken bridge to launch himself up and around the robot, releasing his saber and striking through the center of the robot with one, swift motion. The bot’s arms jerked and its body jolted and sparked. With a final, crashing swing, it barreled into the side of the mountain, breaking through to the inner bridge that both Sonic and Zero quickly jumped in to avoid getting caught in the ensuing explosion.

The side of the mountain shook and crumbled in, forcing the two to take off again with a quick glance back at the destruction. “Huh. Well, thanks for that,” Sonic grinned, though with less certainty than usual. Zero almost grinned at the unease in the hedgehog’s face but kept his expression straight and said nothing.

It didn’t take long for the true object of their interest to appear, or rather, assemble, before them. Almost as soon as the two exited the mountain side onto the main portion of the bridge, the red and black blocks swarmed in front of them. Sonic muttered a curse under his breath as a much larger than expected Metal Sonic formed from the blocks, though Zero wouldn’t have even known what he was looking at without Sonic’s commentary.

“So they really did just make an even faker Metal,” the blue hedgehog huffed before shrugging, “So be it.” He tossed an amused glance back to Zero before taking off after the massive fake, leaving the other bot behind to wonder. He supposed this answered Itara’s question, but Zero felt a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t be fighting the real one, even if it did seem to be a much earlier version of the robot he’d grown accustomed to. Beyond the obvious size difference, the proportions looked more in-line for being a robotic counterpart to the blue hedgehog. Did this mean RK, as well, had a much different original appearance? It seemed likely. Perhaps he would ask the time traveler once they returned to base.

For now, Sonic was getting all the fight and that was unacceptable. Fake as it was, they did say the fakes had the same powers of the originals so he imagined he would still get a decent battle. With that decision made, he took off after the hedgehog and his robotic counterpart, preparing to attack, though had to quickly dart to the side as the massive bot suddenly zipped by in the opposite direction. Before either Zero or Sonic could change directions, however, the fake Metal dashed by again to get back in front of them, likely as an attempt to run one or both of them off the crumbling bridge at the gaps. When that failed, however, it returned to familiar tactics of shooting off lasers from its core and throwing smaller, diversionary bots at them to gain distance.

The attempts proved meaningless as Sonic sped forward, busting through the diversionary robots with ease, and spiraling forward to slam into Metal. The clash sent the bot crashing forward into the concrete, causing a loss of momentum, and giving Zero the edge he needed to catch up. Rushing past the blue hedgehog as he landed, he drew the saber from his back and sliced through the bot as it attempted to regain its footing. Instead of the sparking and zapping as he expected from cutting through a robot, the fake Metal Sonic only spasmed for a moment before exploding into the boxes again and vanishing. A scowl touched Zero’s face as he watched the opportunity to fight disappear so easily, which only worsened when Sonic joined his side with yet more unnecessary quips.

“Hey! That was pretty great! We were like a well-oiled machine, fighting a… well-oiled machine…” The confusion spread across the hedgehog’s face before he shook it from his head and turned back to the annoyed robot.

“That was far too easy. If that’s what’s considered a ‘well-oiled machine’ in this world then I don’t understand how Dr. Robotnik’s gotten as far as he has.”

“Well,” Sonic muttered, reaching up to rub his head, “I guess we just needed someone like you around, huh? Though I guess the real Metal is normally a lot… more stubborn.” Zero eyed the hedgehog with implied mockery, which took Sonic a moment longer than it likely should have to catch onto. “In any case, we should head back to base since this is taken care of. Don’t want to miss any more excitement that might crop up.”

“Is that not what your communication devices are for?”

Sonic looked down at the watch on his wrist with a blank stare, but before either of them could respond or move on, the bridge suddenly wavered and while Zero easily stabilized himself, Sonic struggled to remain on his feet. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” the hedgehog yelped as the bridge twisted at unnatural angles, the concrete bending like paper. Zero narrowed his eyes as the air snapped and crackled with the familiar aura, reaching for his saber as the world dissolved around them. The sky smoldered, the clouds caught fire, and the once vast ocean below them vaporized. Sonic stared in horror but Zero recognized the destruction of Itara’s world quickly enough. The faraway hills flattened and plumes of smoke billowed off what remained of the bridge. “ _What_ ,” came Sonic’s breathy gasp.

But once again, the world snapped back to normal and Sonic was left confused and winded by the vision. He glanced around, patting his face to make sure he was actually awake, before looking to Zero, “Did you see that?” Zero gave a sharp nod. “What _was_ that?” His brows furrowed as he crossed his arms, “That wasn’t… Robotnik’s doing, was it?”

“No,” Zero removed his hand from the saber at his back and turned towards the closed-off mountain pass, “that was a glimpse of the world Itara comes from, the world I’ve been stuck in for the past eight years. We should return to base. I had assumed these energies would stop with the return of that gem to this world. If they’re happening here now, there may be more to this situation.” He glanced towards the horrified hedgehog before giving his own quick nod and taking off, leaving _him_ behind. Though, it didn’t take long before the blue speedster regained his composure and flew by him again, grinning at him on the way through. What an irritating creature.

\----

“What happened to _you_?”

Zero’s eyebrow raised at the tiny time traveler covered in bandages, scowling up at him. By the time he reached the base, she had already returned and been in the process of tossing her shoes halfway across the room, muttering incoherently under her breath, with bandages wrapped around her arms, hands, and knees, and a blood-soaked tissue stuffed up her nose. His question only seemed to frustrate her further as she grumbled a quiet, angry _‘stupid rocket shoes’_ before grabbing the possessed doll from her bag and climbing up on the small bed. He studied the tossed shoes, remembering that Shadow had, indeed, been using rockets to keep up with Sonic before, and resisted the amused smirk at the obvious situation.

Instead, he turned back to the hedgehog as she scribbled furiously in her notebook with the doll in the crook of her arm. “Did you find anything useful about the Phantom Ruby’s power?”

Itara remained silent until she finished scribbling in her notebook, sighed heavily, winced, and looked up at him, “Yeah, yeah, we found what we were looking for.” With another sigh, she leaned back and stared off at the ceiling, reaching up and counting on her fingers as she explained, “Failed battle plans – like, a _lot_ of failed plans – robot blueprints, like ten terabytes of selfies – I really wish I was joking about that. But also, information on the Phantom Ruby. Tails even figured out a possible weakness. We’ve already updated everyone else on what we found.”

She put her hand back down and wrapped the doll up in her arms, staring off towards the wall, going silent. Zero waited for her to fill him in on what he missed but when she said nothing for several minutes, he prompted her to continue, “And?”

Her ears dropped back before she shook her head and looked back over to him with clear discomfort. Whatever they found, it was upsetting for some reason, and he wondered if it meant Tails’ apparent possible weakness was wrong or it was something more personal to her. He got his answer soon as she gave a humorless laugh and explained, “I think my suspicions were correct. About the main power source of the Phantom Ruby, to a degree. I did some more digging through the database after Tails headed back. Robotnik found _something_ in a buried, locked desert location, right around the same time he would have found the scepter in my timeline. He didn’t explicitly state what it was, but it held a vast amount of ‘reality bending power’. Robotnik spent the next _several years_ working to find a way to use it, ultimately leading to the Phantom Ruby. And Infinite.”

Silence filled the room once more as her gaze returned to the wall. Zero took the information into consideration and was about to prompt her about the weakness when she continued, “I don’t think Infinite knows much about it, though. From what I was able to gather, he was part of a mercenary squad that Shadow wiped out during one of his raids on Robotnik’s lab. He was the only one left. I think all he wanted was the power to get revenge on Shadow, and Robotnik – being the opportunist he is – used him to test the prototypes. My theory is that, instead of looking for one fitting, living vessel for the power he found, he instead decided to create one. A gem that could be implanted into someone and used.” She gave another short, humorless laugh and looked over at him, “I guess you could say Infinite is the more successful experiment. I think it’s the only one of Robotnik’s experiments that didn’t go rogue on him. It even successfully managed world domination. It defeated Sonic! Well… for a time.”

Her ears pressed firmly against her head as she looked down, curling in on herself and hugging the doll tighter, “Infinite wasn’t the only one to defeat Sonic.” Zero watched with uncertainty as the tiny hedgehog seemed to zone out of reality entirely, her eyes unfocused as she muttered, “He didn’t even actually _kill_ Sonic. But dad… Mephiles did. Mephiles killed Sonic. And Iblis killed the world. Is it Sonic’s fate to fall to Solaris, no matter the timeline? If we hadn’t appeared in this world, would they be able to defeat Infinite? Will there be another Crisis City in the world in just two days? Even without Iblis, he’s still found a way to destroy this world.”

“You mumble too much.” The sharp tone cut through the frantic hedgehog’s ramblings, but her eyes were no more focused when she turned to stare up at him. “You prevented your Crisis City once before in your timeline, did you not?” Itara gave a slow nod. “Then there’s no reason you can’t do it again in this one. Even if it’s true that the power held within the Phantom Ruby is an alternate Mephiles, it simply means you _know_ what it is and how to combat it. That’s why you’re here in the first place, isn’t it? If X believes you have the power to save this world, then you do. No matter the enemy, you simply strike them down, however you must. Having faced this multiple times before, you should know exactly how to deal with this. Or are you useless without your robot babysitters?”

Itara’s eyes finally focused back in and narrowed, “I’m not a baby!”

“Then prove it. You have incredible power, you ought to use it better. If this Solaris is so world-endingly powerful, then you ought to be able to deal with some mercenary with a revenge plot. This Infinite is only wielding a power he knows nothing about, you are _part_ of it. Make use of your advantage. You have entire worlds counting on you.”

Itara’s eyes widened, staring at him for several minutes before turning away and curling up further. Her ears flattened tightly against her head as she considered his words, turning the idea over in her head several times to get a grasp on it. Endless timelines and outcomes tossed around her mind as she tried to get a hold of herself again, her arms wrapping further around the doll in her arms until the stuffed toy was nearly flat against her chest. Zero watched her eyes dart back and forth with her thoughts, hoping she pulled herself together soon. Preferably without igniting for once. But after several long minutes, she finally closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

With a heavy exhale, she opened her eyes and uncurled, putting her feet back over the edge of the bed – though they didn’t quite reach the ground. Her grip on the doll loosened, though not completely, and she turned back to Zero with a calmer expression, “You’re right. I’m sorry. What did you learn during the fight with Metal Sonic?”

Zero eyed her a moment before giving a nod. He was unsure how long her calm would last, considering this wasn’t the first and would _doubtfully_ be the last of her outbursts. She was an emotional child, so far as he’s seen, but at least for the time being she got a grip on herself. They didn’t have time for delays. The sooner Infinite was defeated and the Phantom Ruby was in their possession, the better. Though, it did beg the question, what would happen if they got a hold of it, if it truly did hold this world’s Mephiles? Could she even realistically use a power like that without some form of paradoxical backlash? Then again, the prototype seemed to only boost her powers, perhaps the final product will do the same. He supposed he would have to see. But first, he needed to inform her of the visions.


	18. Split Paths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for this chapter going up so late. I didn't have it edited in time this week.

“This is where the path splits.”

Zero raised an eyebrow towards the hedgehog who had been silent for the past hour. Itara looked up at him from her notebook, closing the small portal she’d opened with the help of the Ruby prototype. “I was looking into the validity of Tails’ plan. According to what we found in Chemical Plant, the Phantom Ruby requires an immense amount of power to maintain and the only source large enough is the Death Egg. They plan to run a diversionary tactic in Green Hill, disable the Death Egg’s weapons from the computer in Chemical Plant, and send a team up to destroy the Death Egg’s power source from inside. I wanted to make sure it would be a success,” she explained, jumping off the bed and grabbing the shoes she’d tossed – though stared at them warily beforehand.

“And? What did you find?”

“There’s a massive split in the timeline in the next twenty-four hours. To be honest, it’s a lot like the split in my timeline when Iblis was first released. There was a timeline where Sonic was sent to the future and never seen again, which created the Crisis City path. Then another where he came back but was still too late to save Elise, resulting in another Crisis City incident. Then the “final” timeline where he returned in time to save her, she never died, and Iblis was never released in monster form. Of course, that path led to Sonic’s death and the creation of Solaris and thus the end of _all_ timelines, but…,” she trailed off before shaking her head and refocusing. “The point is, there’s a similar split with the current plan. I think this is where our interference may be most needed.”

“Right. And you’re certain our interference isn’t what _causes_ this split?”

She remained silent, staring up at him with a blank look, before reaching back to pull her backpack on again. “Well of course it is, that’s why we’re here. Well, okay, not entirely. There are other factors to some of them, situations out of even my control, but yes, for the most part our involvement is necessary here.”

“Necessary.” Zero’s tone suggested he doubted her word choice, but he didn’t question it further and instead followed after the hedgehog when she finally left the small room. Whatever finished this mission so he could return home. “So do I get an actual explanation or not?”

“I’ll explain it to everyone at once, saves time.”

“Says the time traveler.”

Itara stopped for a moment to stare back at the robot, though her attempt to give him a dirty look was heavily diminished by the almost excessive height difference. “ _One_ mission with Sonic and suddenly you’re a wise cracker?”

“I’m a learning AI.” The smirk on his face as he looked well over her head at the hallway before them made her want to punch him. But even if she could reach over the top of his too-tall boots, it would hurt her far more, so she resisted.

She opened her mouth for a rebuttal but only huffed and spun back around, nearly tripping herself in the process. Apparently she needed to hurry and get Zero away from Sonic. Metal was bad enough. She stormed her way down the hall to the meeting room, her frustration never quite leaving her face even once they entered, catching the end of the ongoing discussion.

“I’ll run the diversion at Green Hill. Sonic, Tails, you handle Chemical Plant. Vex, Espio, Charmy, head to the Death Egg and wait for our signal,” Knuckles commanded with little more than a quick glance back at the newcomers.

“No way, Knuckles, you’re too easily distracted. That’s not a good characteristic for a _diversion_ ,” Amy snapped, getting a scowl from the echidna. “Besides, you’re our leader, we need you here.”

“Zero can handle the mission at Green Hill,” Itara cut in as she calmed her face, getting a side-eyed glance from the robot, “Amy is right, we’re going to need your leadership, Knuckles. Considering the Death Egg isn’t the only source of power for the Phantom Ruby.”

The room went silent as all eyes turned to the still heavily bandaged, doll-carrying hedgehog. “What do you mean?” Tails questioned, his brows furrowing, “You were with me when we looked at the plans for the Ruby.”

Itara nodded and looked for a chair to sit down, still wary about the rocket shoes activating and wanted to be off her feet as much as possible. Once she found a desk chair, she hopped up onto it and turned back towards everyone, “I looked further through the files and found some more information Robotnik had in a hidden file. The Death Egg is the current source of energy for the Phantom Ruby so it absolutely still needs to go down, but there’s a backup generator.” Her own brows furrowed in confusion, “I don’t know what you all did, but the Robotnik in your world is weirdly competent compared to the one I know.” She shook her head and continued, “In any case, he’s built the backup under Metropolis, which, as you can imagine, provides a whole new host of problems in taking it down. We can blow the Death Egg up; we can’t really do that to the entirety of Metropolis.”

“So we just send an extra team to Metropolis to take the power out there, too,” Knuckles shrugged.

“It won’t be that easy. Getting to the Death Egg is one thing, Robotnik’s not watching it as closely since Sonic escaped. Even with the diversion in Green Hill, Metropolis won’t be so easy to sneak into. Not to mention we don’t actually know _where_ the generator is located. It wasn’t in the file. There’s a chance we could end up pushing the plan forward if he catches on. Not to mention Infinite…” She went silent to let them consider the situation, giving her legs a couple small kicks since they couldn’t quite reach the ground from the chair. After a few moments of silent consideration, she continued, “There’s a possibility I can get into whatever lab is hosting the generator without detection, but if I run into trouble… I’m a terrible fighter.” She motioned towards the many, many bandages.

“Well then we just send someone with you, easy,” Sonic suggested.

“It’d have to be someone capable of going completely covert but powerful enough to potentially face Infinite, if he shows up. Someone who can make sure he can’t alert Robotnik to our presence.”

The room turned to silence as everyone considered the possibilities, but slowly, one-by-one, all eyes fell to the glaring, disinterested Shadow leaning against the wall at the back of the room. His arms were already crossed and as soon as he realized he was being silently volunteered, his scowl only darkened before he sighed in frustration. “Fine.”

Itara gave her own silent, mental sigh at the realization that Shadow was, indeed, the best option. Again. Espio would have been a viable option, as well – and she was half-tempted to make the suggestion just to get away from Shadow – but he would more than likely be needed for Death Egg mission. Besides, as powerful as Espio actually was, he wasn’t quite ‘Ultimate Lifeform’ powerful. And considering what she knew of Infinite, if he showed up, they would need ‘Ultimate Lifeform’ powerful. Though the idea of being alone with Shadow still terrified her, if it was to save her world, she would have to suck it up. With that essentially decided, she turned back to the others and added, “We’re going to need to time this perfectly to pull it off. We only have twenty-four hours until this plan of theirs goes off. Twenty-four hours to run a distraction, disable the weapons, destroy the Death Egg, and power down the generator under Metropolis. All without Robotnik realizing what we’re doing. Also, Sonic, I need you to stay away from Robotnik and Infinite.”

“What? Why?” the blue hedgehog looked almost insulted by the idea.

“Because if you run into them in Metropolis before we can power the Phantom Ruby down, you’re going to get stuck somewhere not even I can get you out of unless I’m with you and I’m going to be busy taking care of the generator. So stay out of Metropolis until the final battle,” Itara nearly hissed, garnering confused and suspicious stares around the room.

“What do you mean? How do you know that?”

“Because I…,” she sighed in frustration, reaching up to rub the bridge of her nose though winced when she touched a sore spot and put her hand back down. “Look, I can… see potential futures. It’s one of the powers I get from Solaris. It’s not a perfected power, I can only see potentials, but it’s enough to know that you can possibly be lost forever to a void dimension. I shouldn’t need to explain why that’s bad.” Of course, she was heavily downplaying her abilities but she didn’t want to reveal her full power to anyone unless it was necessary. The less they knew about her, the better. She was already uncomfortable with how much they already knew.

Though, the more she considered it, the more parallels she drew between the Soleanna event and this one. It was as if this was the delayed form of it. It cemented her decision to leave the current princess of Soleanna out of the equation, though. The further Iblis stayed from this world’s Mephiles, the better. But what would happen if she tried to take the Phantom Ruby out of this world and back to her own? That was her intent in coming here, to find a power to bring back home. But what would be the consequences? She shook her head of the thought soon enough. She would deal with that later. First, they needed to stop Infinite and this impending disaster. Then she could consider what to do with the Phantom Ruby.

When she zoned back in, she found Sonic – and the rest of the room – staring at her, as if waiting for a response. She never heard the question, though, and stared back in confusion, “What?”

Sonic studied her and repeated the unheard inquiry, “About that vision we saw yesterday…”

“Right, yes. Zero told me about that,” Itara stated, reaching up to rub her head, “from what he described, it sounded like you got a glimpse of my world. Though I can’t be sure why. Due to my powers, it’s not uncommon for _me_ to see visions of other worlds. In fact, I’m certain now that I had a dream about Infinite before I ever left home, but I don’t know why _you_ were able to see that. Has this happened before?”

“Not that I can recall,” Sonic shook his head, “things have definitely been _strange_ since that Infinite guy showed up, but no world-shattering visions, no.”

Itara’s mouth pulled back, looking away to consider the implications. “I initially thought it was this power source I’ve been searching for that’s caused all the… _alterations_. But, judging by what Tails and I found yesterday, I’m no longer sure.” Then again, if she was right about the Phantom Ruby housing this world’s Mephiles, maybe it was still possible. If Zero hadn’t shown up _long_ before the Gods reawakened back home, she would simply assume it was their battle that was causing the breaks, but this clearly started _long_ before that. So what was the actual cause? Was it coming from her world? Or theirs? Was it _somewhere else_? Would stopping the Gods be enough to put everything back to how it should be or was it something bigger? She was less sure every day and she had no further time to debate it, either, as Shadow was looming above her rather suddenly. When did he get there? “What?”

“Let’s go.”

“Wait, what? Now?” She looked around and realized everyone was moving about, getting ready to take off. It was true they didn’t really have much time to waste but shouldn’t they finish discussing the plan first?!

“If we want to find Robotnik’s lab in time to shut it down, then yes. Now.” Shadow growled, no more please about the situation than she was. Not that it could really be helped. Itara had long since realized her fighting – and fleeing – abilities left much to be desired. She wasn’t built for physical exertion in any way. “Tell me everything you found in that file so we can get this done.”

She slid off the chair and looked up at Zero, who was studying the map displayed on the computer screen while Knuckles went over the plan with the others in the order everything needed to be carried out. “Well, uh,” she stammered, looking back at Shadow again, then around the room. She’d lied about there being a file so she wasn’t entirely sure how to explain what she’d found to Shadow. “Uh, sure, I’ll explain on the way,” she finally managed, figuring once they were out of earshot of the others, she could just explain how she actually found out.

“Fine, then let’s go,” he commanded and headed for the door.

Itara sighed heavily but looked to Zero, “You know what to do?” He gave a short nod but said nothing. “Alright. Then I likely won’t see you until the final battle that’s soon to come. Things are about to fire off, one after the other, so just stay in contact with everyone. You’ll know what to do from there.” He glanced down, studying the look of concern she was attempting to hide, before nodding again.

“Be careful.”

“I’ll… try.”

To be honest, there was a knot in her stomach that she was struggling to get rid of. It felt too familiar. She wanted to keep everything on track for the ‘right’ timeline of events, the one that led to success, but the future was always uncertain, even to a time traveler. Sometimes, even the ‘final’ timeline could go wrong somehow, for someone. Especially her. She was sure she was on the right track this time, and even fighting for the right team for once, but even still, it did little to quell her fear and not even her notebook could predict everything. As she saw. Multiple times. She would just have to trust her instincts and the people around her, for once. If she fought for the right side, with the right people, things would work out. It always did for heroes, right? Even if she, herself, was no hero, if she worked with them, if she fought for their outcome, she couldn’t fail. Right? That’s how it worked, right?

Then again, her world was destroyed right now and even Sonic was struggling to survive.

Was it because of her? Was it because she helped Solaris first? Because she helped Mephiles? Because she allied with Robotnik’s most dangerous creations? Did it all really fall down to _her_ , alone? Or was Crisis City and the destruction it caused just inevitable, no matter what. Someone would always cause it.

Her ears flattened against her head as she followed Shadow out of the room, struggling to keep up as she pulled Kipper tighter against her. But she wouldn’t help Mephiles this time. She was keeping Iblis far away from him. She was keeping Sonic out of harm’s way and doing everything she could to stop Infinite. She may have messed up her own world, but she would do everything she could to save this one and maybe it would help save her own. Her thoughts were once again interrupted when she smacked face-first into Shadow’s back, sending her tumbling back with a yelp. She shook her head and scowled up at him to question why he stopped so suddenly, but his own scowl stopped her first word before it ever left.

“Tell me what you know now,” he demanded, turning around to face her and cross his arms, glaring down at her.

If she wasn’t so used to being towered over by much taller, much bulkier robots, she might have been somewhat intimidated by the stare-down. Instead, she huffed in annoyance and looked around to get her bearings again. They were already outside of the base and a decent distance away, which she hadn’t expected so quickly. Just how far back in her head had she gotten? Had he been talking to her at any point during their walk? With a glance up at him again, she quickly shook her head of that idea. No. Neither Shadow nor Zero were much for idle chatter. They made sure people were listening if they chose to speak.

She pulled herself back to her feet and brushed the dirt off before looking up at him, “What do you want to know, exactly?”

“Start with the suggestion to Sonic. You know more than you told them. What danger is Sonic in and how do you know?”

“I thought I explained this. I checked the timelines.” She debated leaving it at that, just to get on his nerves, but sighed and reconsidered. They didn’t have time for beating around the bush. “Okay, fine, there’s more to it. The truth is, the timeline splits drastically in the next twenty-four hours, depending on what happens, specifically around Sonic. I wanted to make sure Tails was on the right track with his plan so I checked. For the most part it goes off without a hitch so long as everyone stays focused, but there’s a point where we could possibly lose Sonic. If he goes to Metropolis and faces Eggman and Infinite, he’ll be pulled into another dimension that not even he has a chance of escaping on his own.

“As much as it pains me to admit, I shouldn’t need to explain to you guys especially why losing Sonic would be bad at this point in time. For… any world, really,” she stared off for a moment, but shook the memories away to continue, “so there were two possibilities to keep that from happening. Either I stay with him and help him back or he stays out of Metropolis in the first place. The latter made more sense and frees my time up to focus on the backup generator.” Just because she technically _could_ travel through time and be both places at once, she preferred to save her energy. Her power wasn’t… Infinite. She almost smirked at her mental pun but the urge disappeared when she looked back to Shadow.

He remained silent to debate what she told him, likely considering whether or not to believe it in the first place. His gaze drifted off again, “And the information about the backup generator? I’ve never known Tails to miss information so easily.”

“That’s because he didn’t. I got that from the timeline, as well. Robotnik reveals that information just before sending Sonic to Null Space. I figured we could save time and just take care of it along with the Death Egg. Which is why I don’t know exactly where it’s located.”

“How am I supposed to believe all this?” Shadow questioned sharply, narrowing his eyes and facing her again, “Not only does it sound like you can do a _lot_ more than just _see possibilities_ , as you claimed, but you came out of nowhere and started commanding everyone. Just because the others believe you so easily doesn’t mean I’m so foolish. How do I know you haven’t been working with Robotnik and Infinite this entire time and you’re leading us directly into a trap?”

Itara stared blankly up at him, unblinking, for several moments. Her mouth pulled to the side as she briefly looked away, contemplating how to answer him. She wasn’t surprised at the accusation. In a different situation, that may very well have been exactly what she would have done. It wouldn’t be the first time she led someone into a trap working for what was essentially Mephiles. But that wasn’t the case this time and she wasn’t entirely sure how to convince him of it. Nor did they have the time to be fumbling about like this, either. Finally, she simply sighed and questioned, “Alright. Fine. I _may_ have underplayed my abilities a bit earlier. Can you blame me? I’m not from here and I don’t actually know any of you. Would you trust everyone with everything about you so easily?” She knew she had him when his mouth pursed into a tight line. “But I’m not lying. How do I prove that to you?”

“Show me.” Her head tilted sideways. “Show me this time travel power and I may just believe you. Prove you’re not getting your information from Robotnik, himself.”

Her face twisted up slightly, “But… I’ve never been able to….” Her brow furrowed. She looked down to consider his demand. She’d never been able to bring anyone with her through time before and most people couldn’t see the visual portals she opened to look through time. But maybe… she looked up again, “Do you… have a Chaos Emerald by any chance?” Mephiles had used the emeralds to send all of them through time in her world. It made sense she could, too.

“Why would I trust you with a Chaos Emerald, even if I had one?”

“Because I’m not powerful enough to bring other people with me through time. But I might be able to with an emerald.”

Shadow remained silent, contemplative, though something was clearly bothering him. Itara watched him carefully, curiously, as he struggled for a response. Finally, he admitted, “We haven’t been able to locate the emeralds. It’s one of the reasons Robotnik’s gotten as far as he has. I was searching from them the first time I ran into Infinite, but there’s been no sign of them.”

Itara recoiled at the news, her eyes widening before narrowing again as her finger went up to her mouth. That explained a lot, really. She’d been wondering why they hadn’t even been brought up since she arrived, especially with someone as powerful as Infinite running around. But not even Shadow could find them? Or Knuckles? Then again, it hardly seemed like they had time to keep searching once Infinite showed up, either. Should _she_ go back and search for them? But they’d managed just fine so far without them, maybe they didn’t need them. She’d rather not waste any more time. Though it did still leave the problem of Shadow’s disbelief.

What about the Ruby prototype?

She’d kept it a secret up until now to everyone but Zero. Could it boost her power enough to bring Shadow with her through time? With a heavy sigh, she dropped her head to the side and glared up at him, silently. He eyed her suspiciously as she reached back and pulled the gem out of her backpack, taking a cautious step back once he caught sight of it. “What is _that_?!” This did not make her look any less suspicious, she realized, but she didn’t see any other option. Plus, now that she was back in her own world, she _had_ been wanting to test just how much power it could give her.

“It’s one of the prototypes. I found it in Zero’s world. I can’t explain how it got there, but it’s how we got here. I didn’t realize what it was until I got here but I can use it to boost my power. Hopefully it’s enough to bring you with me. So tell me where to take you and we’ll go.”

Shadow looked ready to attack at any wrong move, and she silently feared actually getting kicked by him again, but remained quiet and waited for his response. His eyes darted around the area, looking for the trick, the setup, the ambush, but when nothing came, his gaze fell back to her. He was no less on edge, but finally, at long length, responded, “Fine. Let’s see the timeline you got your information from. Let’s see this interaction between Sonic and Robotnik.”

“Only if you swear not to interfere. We’re fixing this timeline, not that one.”

His eyes narrowed further, but once he nodded, Itara sighed and tapped into the gem’s power. It sparked to life and she reached out to the timelines, opening a portal to the original future of this world. One where she and Zero never showed up. Once it was stable, she motioned for Shadow to lead the way and followed soon after, closing the portal behind them. She would need to make sure she returned them to the right time on the trip back so they didn’t miss the deadline for shutting the backup down.

The portal opened to a Metropolis rooftop. They exited on the far side of the building but Robotnik, two of his robots, and Infinite were within view, waiting and watching over the city. Itara quietly reminded Shadow not to draw attention before returning her attention to the scene about to play out. Before long at all, both Sonic and Tails ran up behind Robotnik, Sonic taking the lead and grabbing the doctor’s attention.

“Welcome, Sonic! Glad you could make it _to your funeral_. Infinite, do it.”

The black and white jackal floating beside him moved forward, creating a small, pulsing orb that seemed to suck the surrounding light into it. Shadow hitched but Itara shook her head and checked that they were both behind one of the large, metal protrusions on the roof. They didn’t need to get stuck in Null Space, themselves.

“What is _that_?” Sonic questioned, motioning for Tails to step back further, just in case.

“That, my spiky frienemy,” Robotnik grinned, “is _Null Space_. It’s a little something that the Phantom Ruby cooked up, a closed-off space where absolutely nothing exists. Not even time. Goodbye, Sonic, my soon-to-be-eradicated nemesis. Enjoy all the nothing!”

The doctor sped off in his hovercraft while Infinite shot the pulsing space with the red-black energy created by the Phantom Ruby. The orb expanded and a vortex opened, sucking in everything around it. While Sonic panicked and attempted to keep his ground, Itara moved further behind the protrusion. She looked to Shadow again, watching the frustration spread across his face, but remained silently relieved when he made no move to interfere. She wouldn’t exactly have been able to stop him if he had. Sonic was sucked into the vortex, though Tails managed to hang onto the pipe he moved behind until it was gone.

As soon as the wind stopped, Tails looked up at the nearby floating Robotnik in shock and horror, “But… we destroyed the Phantom Ruby’s power source.”

“Tsk, tsk,” Robotnik grinned, “since you ALWAYS destroy the power source of my weapons, I decided to learn from my mistake. I had a backup power source created under Metropolis.”

Itara turned to Shadow again, motioning towards the conversation and quietly asking, “believe me now? This is what happens without my interference after you destroy the Death Egg. Unfortunately, without me there, Sonic has no way to escape that Null Space. Otherwise, no one but the wielder of the Phantom Ruby can open it again.”

“So why not just go with him now, then?”

“Because, as I said before, it’s easier if he just avoids this situation altogether.” She opened another portal leading back to their present and, though he hesitated a moment, she and Shadow returned to their proper time. “Something similar happened in my world, eleven years ago, during the Soleanna incident. Instead of a dimension, Sonic was lost to time, itself. In the original timeline, he just vanished one day and was never seen again,” she explained once they were back, looking up to study the blue, almost perfectly clear day. There had been so many times, throughout her many lives, where she hadn’t been able to see a blue sky. Even now, in _her_ present, the sky was burnt. Her voice grew somber, almost destitute, as she continued, “without him, Iblis was released incorrectly and the world was consumed by his flames. Soleanna became known as Crisis City… and it was an apt description. When I first came into existence, I had only been able to see blue skies for two days before the fires scorched it.

“I lived, for two-hundred years, in a constant fight to survive. I had no one. I didn’t even know who _I_ was. Everyone I relied on either abandoned me or died and no one could ever explain my powers. Until _he_ appeared. He protected me, gave me a safe place to stay, and even taught me to use my powers. He gave me a purpose, for the first time in my too-long life. I would have followed him anywhere. I…,” she trailed off, staring at the sky, but eventually shook her head. And now she was working to stop him. The thought was still uncomfortable, but she could no longer ignore the blatant lies. With a quick slap of her face, she turned back to Shadow, who had been silently and curiously watching her. She couldn’t quite read the blank expression on his face, for once it wasn’t a scowl, but she finished, “My point is, I don’t want anything like that to ever happen again. You avoided the Soleanna incident in this world, but something similar can happen if anything goes wrong today. Our worlds are obviously connected and if this world is doomed, it may doom mine, as well. I have friends back home counting on me. Not just my world’s Sonic and Shadow but…,” she looked away, debating whether to reveal more, wondering if this Shadow had the same history as hers, eventually chancing it, “my world’s Metal Sonic. He’s broken free of Robotnik in my world. I want him to experience a world not torn apart by Solaris.”

There was a split second of shock on Shadow’s face before it returned to its normal resting scowl. That was confirmation enough for her. This Shadow also had a soft spot for Metal Sonic. Constants and variables. But that seemed to do the trick to finally convince him she wasn’t leading him into a trap, at least. He didn’t say much more on the subject, but he prompted them to move on to Metropolis. She was curious about what was going through his head to change his mind, but she knew better than to ask. She wouldn’t get an answer. Not that it mattered. What mattered now was finding that backup generator and turning it off without getting caught and without flattening the entirety of Metropolis. It wasn’t an easy mission, even for her, but she was confident they would succeed. They had to. Failure wasn’t an option.


	19. The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itara and Shadow hunt down the secret lab and backup power for the Phantom Ruby... but nothing can ever be so easy.

“So how do we find this base, then?” Shadow questioned, looking towards the sprawling city skyline before them. Metropolis was a strange view to Itara. It was entirely different than the one in her world, not only because it was crawling with badniks of every size, but even the layout and overall image were different. Towering skyscrapers, rails lining the sky in every which way, a horizon that seemed to go on forever. She shook her head to refocus and consider Shadow’s question.

“I’m… not sure. Where are Robotnik’s closest bases that you know of? There’s a possibility they may be connected.”

“Mystic Jungle, as far as I’m aware. Were there no files about it in the database?”

“Not that I saw, no. The base under Metropolis was apparently a well-kept secret.” Mystic Jungle was a good distance from the city. Even if the base _did_ connect to the one under the city, it would likely be attached to a lot of huge, winding tunnel systems they didn’t have time to go bumbling through. “If I were Robotnik, where would I hide a secret base under a city?”

“In plain sight.”

Itara looked up at him, her brows furrowing, as she studied the city again. It had a number of sky-high towers and buildings but there was definitely a center to it all. The tallest tower. Now that Shadow mentioned it, that should have been obvious. “We’re going to need to be careful not to draw attention, which means we should avoid as many fights as possible. Too many destroyed badniks will get Robotnik’s attention, even with the diversion in Green Hill. Not to mention Infinite. It’s possible he’s already in the city, as is. We don’t want them to know _we_ know about the base before we get there.”

Shadow grunted at the idea of not being able to destroy everything in sight, but nodded after his brief complaint. “Then I suggest you keep up.” Before they could discuss any further action, he was off and headed into the city, leaving a briefly fumbling Itara behind. How did he expect her to keep up with that speed?! Frowning, she looked down at the mock rocket shoes, wincing as she recalled the many incidents in Chemical Plant. Well, the cityscape was at least flat. With a deep breath to calm herself, she used her powers to hover before clicking the activation button she’d accidentally found before and was immediately sent sprawling after him. It took a great amount of flustering about and near misses, but eventually she managed to wrangle the shoes’ speed into something manageable and at least keep Shadow within sight.

The route through the city was often side-tracked by roves of badniks in their attempt to avoid fights. Every so often they’d realize a moment too late that their path was completely blocked and Shadow would have to cleave a path through before Itara barreled into them. Though, more than once, she had to disappear into a shadow to avoid getting caught up in the ensuing battle as she was nowhere near fluid enough to redirect her path in time. However, by the time she would reappear on the other side, Shadow had already made his way through and they could continue on.

Messages from the rest of the team came in every so often to update them about the status of the plan. Zero was doing a fine job keeping Robotnik busy in Green Hill – and was likely having fun with it, if Itara had to guess. Sonic and Tails were in Chemical Plant and headed to the database again. Meanwhile, Team Chaotix and Silver were on their way out to the Death Egg and were otherwise unimpeded. So far, all was going as planned. In the same vein, she and Shadow were nearing the tower and the closer they got, the more they realized there was absolutely no question that it was the entrance to the hidden base. Not only did it _look_ like something Robotnik would hide a lab under in design alone, but it was crawling with heavy security bots. But at least there was no sign of either the doctor or his newest weapon yet.

Itara realized they wouldn’t be able to brute force their way through the security line without alerting Robotnik to their presence, as much as Shadow insisted otherwise, and stopped them just out of sight of the tower. “Even if you somehow manage to take out the bots before they could alert him, he’s going to have cameras everywhere. Likely set to inform him immediately if anything goes haywire.”

“I can take care of cameras,” Shadow insisted again, frustrated with the delay.

“If we take them out, he’ll notice,” Itara growled and studied the bots. “I could deactivate some of the robots no problem but I don’t know how to get inside once we get past them.” She shifted her backpack off and pulled her notebook out to search through it for any hints of the right path. There were a few notes about which paths specifically did _not_ work, but there were a lot of illegible scribbles afterwards. She didn’t know if they were mindless scribbles, since she sometimes did that when she zoned out, or if it meant something else. She’d grown increasingly wary about the illegible pages as of late. “Can you use Chaos Control to get through unseen?” she finally questioned, looking up at him again.

“Most likely.”

“I suppose that’s our best bet then,” she stated, putting the notebook away and pulling her bag back on, “so I’ll go through and deactivate the nearest most robots and meet you inside. Try not to get caught.”

Shadow scoffed but gave a curt nod and Itara nodded in response. Once she pointed out exactly which path to take and which robots she would take out, she vanished into a shadow again. A deep purple mist swirled out from the darkness and whipped around and through the bots Itara had pointed out, shorting them as it passed through, and continued on through the walls of the tower. Itara reappeared, solidified and shaking her head, just behind the door. Shadow appeared beside her and the two scanned the desolate entrance of the building. Itara put a finger up to her lips, just to be sure, and motioned towards an elevator door. Shadow followed suit, after silencing his communicator, and the two continued their search for the base entrance, remaining cautious to cameras and sensors.

They were cut off from the others for the time being and couldn’t check in with progress, but Itara warned them about this ahead of time. Unfortunately, there weren’t many alternatives to keep in contact so they would be entirely on their own from this point forward until they found the main power switch. Only then could they reactivate the communicator to make sure they switched it off at the right time. First, though, they would need to find it and that required avoiding any and all detection.

Luckily, their path to the lab itself was easy enough to find. Apparently Robotnik never expected anyone but him and his lackies to use this building as the elevator had a ‘basement lab’ button right on the panel. The two exchanged brief glances at the sight of it, but pressed the button and waited as the elevator closed and moved down. The ride down was silent and the air tense as they didn’t know what awaited them at the bottom. They expected more security bots and could only hope they weren’t immediately off the elevator. Though, just to be sure, once they neared the bottom floor, they pressed against the side walls to wait for the doors to open. Itara gave her notebook another quick glance for warnings but found a drawn map of the lab, instead. Convenient. It had been a while since the journal had been this useful.

The elevator dinged, the doors opened, and Itara and Shadow pressed their backs further against the wall. When there was no immediate reaction from the outside room, Shadow moved cautiously to look around the corner and motioned to her that it was safe to move forward. With a nod, they exited into the open ‘office’ that led to the rest of the lab. Shadow motioned to a camera pointed towards the center of the room, moving around underneath it to stay out of its view while Itara held the drawn map of the lab up to him. He eyed her suspiciously at first, but eventually nodded and led the way around the edges of the room to the door they needed.

They waited for the camera to pan away just enough to slip through the door and into the long hallway behind it. Another thorough study of the hallway and the door behind them suggested they were likely safe to talk again and Itara explained quietly, “There are two rooms circled on the map but I don’t know which one is which. Should we split off or stay together?”

“Stay together. I have the communicator and we’ll need to check in with the others before flipping it off.”

“Right. Good point. Then we should head to the closest room first. Though I’m not sure why there are two to begin with. Maybe the power switches are in separate areas?”

“I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.”

Itara nodded and they went silent again as they reached the end of the first hall. The room behind it was a larger, more open lab space with all manner of machinery inside. It was there they ran into the first of the security bots but luckily, with so many large machines, it was easy to keep out of their sight and detection. As badly as Itara could tell Shadow wanted to fight, she was happy he didn’t because, just like the robots, she had no hope of stopping him if he tried. Following the drawn map, they continued through a far door to another hallway, though this one was shorter and led to several more doors, some of which needed passcodes to enter.

Itara looked to her notebook for the code but frowned when she saw nothing of the sort. “Should we try the other one first then and come back to this one?”

“There’s a reason it’s locked,” was Shadow’s only response as he studied the keypad.

Itara’s brow furrowed but straightened back up and nodded, handing the journal to him. Once he took it, she headed back to the other room, saying nothing. Before long, however, the door slid open with a rematerializing Itara grinning up at him behind it. He eyed her but continued through, handing the journal back. She followed after him but they both stopped short and realized, right away, why the door had been locked. Itara’s eyes widened in shock while Shadow’s narrowed furiously.

“Are those…?” she questioned, turning back to him, pointing towards the seven glowing gems floating behind a thick glass inside a massive machine.

“The Chaos Emeralds,” Shadow confirmed, taking a step towards them. Itara stopped him short.

“Wait,” when he scowled back at her, she threw her hands up, “If we grab those, it will _absolutely_ alert Robotnik. We have to wait until we power the generator down first.”

“What does it matter if he knows, if _I_ have the Chaos Emeralds?” Shadow scoffed.

“Normally, I’d agree, but think about it. Robotnik’s apparently had them this entire time and your Robotnik is weirdly prepared. You don’t think he has a _ton_ of safety measures in place to keep something like _this_ protected? Especially considering, if I had to take a guess, this is likely the real source of power for the Phantom Ruby. That’s why it wasn’t in the files, Robotnik didn’t want to even chance you finding out about this. We’ll have a better chance of getting them out of here safely if we power the base down _first_ and then come back to get them, when we’re sure Infinite’s _other_ source of power has been taken out, as well.”

Shadow fumed at the idea, struggling with a decision, scowling up at the machine before growling and turning around, snapping, “Fine. Then let’s hurry and get to that power source.”

Itara sighed, half in annoyance, half in relief when he turned away, but didn’t follow after him right away. “Though, maybe it would be better to have one of us wait here with them, just in case.” Shadow stopped and glared back at her as she frowned, “Not that there’s a whole lot I could do in terms of a fight, but the Phantom Ruby’s power doesn’t seem to affect me. I could possibly delay Infinite if he turned up until you can get to the power switch.” She looked towards her journal for a hint about what to do, but it was all illegible scribbling after the map.

They debated the idea for a much shorter moment than Itara would have liked as Shadow turned on his heel and stormed back over to the machine and the emeralds. She watched in horror and confusion as he aimed a boosted kick right for the glass… and his leg simply phased through the entire area – glass, machine, and emeralds. A knot twisted in her gut as the machine and emeralds wavered and exploded into the red and black squares, vanishing. A deep laugh echoed around the room as the knot in her stomach dropped.

The entire room wavered and shifted as Shadow readjusted himself and moved into an offensive position, scanning the room. He tossed an accusatory glare towards her, though she could only watch him in confusion. “You knew.” His tone was biting and dangerous and caused Itara to shrink back in shock.

“What?! No! I didn’t!”

The room went dark, the empty room revealing itself, as Shadow squared up and faced her with a burning fury, “You said the Phantom Ruby’s power doesn’t affect you. You would have seen through an illusion.”

“No! I can’t- I don’t- I didn’t!” Itara panicked, taking a step back when he neared, throwing her hands up in defense, “I swear! I didn’t!”

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted,” Shadow hissed, readying an attack when the source of the illusion finally showed himself, floating above them.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Infinite mused, “Not-so-tall, dark, and brooding and the trembling child. This world truly is disappointing.”

Shadow put distance between him and both Infinite and Itara, spines bristled in fury at the trap while Itara only stared up at Infinite in horror and panic. Not only did she not want Shadow to think she’d led him into the trap, but she hadn’t expected Infinite to be there at all. And now he- wait. Her stance and expression straightened as she realized what Infinite even said and looked blankly between the bemused jackal and furious hedgehog. Did… did Infinite just call Shadow _short_? She couldn’t help the cackle that bubbled up her throat as her hand went to cover her mouth. She absolutely could not start laughing. Not in this situation. But try as she might, struggle as she did, she was far too tense to control the giggles that managed to burst out as she doubled over in laughter.

Shadow and Infinite both looked over to the hedgehog girl, furious and confused, as she struggled to control her breathing. Shadow’s expression only darkened, as he took the strangely maniacal laughter as proof that she’d led him into the trap. Infinite, however, only watched her, confused. Shadow snapped first as he stormed over to the time traveler, pulling her – wheezing – back to her feet but his threats fell on deaf ears as she waved him away.

“You little-!”

“N-No! S-stop, stop,” Itara cackled, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself again, reaching up to rub the tears from her eyes. She was so tense before that the unexpected insult caught her completely off-guard, but she realized how bad her laughing looked and managed to calm herself eventually, “I’m not… I didn’t…,” she took another deep breath and looked up at the raging Shadow, “I’m sorry I just… he called you _short_.”

Shadow jerked at the response, unsure how to respond at first, but dropped the girl again to let her crumble back to the floor, where she promptly curled up in an attempt to hide her continued giggles. Shadow muttered something about how _she_ was one to talk, which she only barely caught, before turning his attention back to the source of all the problems. Infinite didn’t seem to know how to respond to the situation any better and almost appeared relieved to have Shadow’s furious gaze again.

“Where are the emeralds?” Shadow demanded while Itara took several deep breaths behind him.

“As if I’d tell you,” Infinite stated, recollecting himself as well, “though I am surprised you managed to make it here. I didn’t think anyone would discover this base so soon. Not that it matters. There’s no time to stop us now. Though I am curious. How _did_ you figure it out so quickly?”

Shadow prepared to fight, but Itara took a final deep breath and stood back up, having recollected herself and looked up to face the jackal, as well. “That would be thanks to me.” Shadow tossed another quick glare her way but she ignored it and focused on Infinite, instead, “Consider it payback for before. That said, you made me look like a jackass so I think it’s only fair you answer _my_ questions now.” Infinite glared down at her, but said nothing as she continued, “How did you know we were here? Shouldn’t you be with Robotnik?”

Infinite remained silent only a moment to debate whether or not to answer, but responded, “I suppose it doesn’t matter, either way. I’ve been here. Preparing for your end.”

Itara sighed but continued, “Does Robotnik really have the emeralds?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Well, I do, but I’ll find out later, I suppose,” Itara stated before narrowing her eyes suspiciously at Infinite, her tone growing more serious as she questioned, “Do you know what the Phantom Ruby truly is?”

The question seemed to grab his attention as he eyed her sharply, though Itara could hardly tell under the strange mask he wore. She could only see one eye and it was heavily filtered through the red lens. One single, bright yellow, burning eye. As she stared up at him, waiting for an answer, he repeated more quietly, “Who _are_ you?”

“You’ll find out in due time. Answer the question,” Itara stated flatly.

After a long silence, Infinite’s stance shifted as he growled, “It doesn’t much matter what it is. What matters is the power it gives me. Power to finally put an end to Shadow and the Resistance. All I want is power.” Shadow shifted his focus at the mention of his name and only went further on the defensive when Infinite met his gaze again. However, before Itara could ask anything further, the room filled with the boxes again and Infinite floated further away. Shadow moved to follow, but the jackal simply stated, “Now it’s my turn to ask the questions. Can you survive long enough to meet your friends again… before I end it all?”

Itara’s expression darkened and Shadow shifted to fight while the world around them warped again. Itara knew it was only a trick of the Ruby now, but she still struggled to stay standing as the ground shook beneath them and Chaos formed from the cubes. Shadow wasted no time jumping into action to fight the fake, likely fueled by the growing rage, but Itara focused on the jackal controlling the creations. She knew Chaos was fake and she knew the creations were harmless to her, to a degree, though she wasn’t sure where the line was drawn. With the help of the rocket shoes and some hovering, she moved away from the battle. They didn’t have time for this. They needed to get out of Infinite’s projection and find the power switch.

But how?

_This Infinite is only wielding a power he knows nothing about, you are part of it_.

She looked towards the red gem embedded in Infinite’s chest and studied the glow, the energy, the familiarity. Was it possible to overpower him? Like she did with Sigma? But the main ruby was powered by all the Chaos Emeralds. She glanced back at her bag. Could she use the prototype? With another glance towards the jackal and Shadow half a room away, fighting a growing, fake Chaos, she sighed and reached back to grab the gem. She wasn’t sure if it would work, but she had to try, right? If they wanted to defeat Infinite, she had to do _something_. She was the only one who could, after all.

The prototype sparked and glowed as soon as she took hold of it, reacting to the energy surrounding them. The world swayed again as Infinite’s reality sparked violently due to the additional energy. Unfortunately, the effect grabbed Infinite’s attention immediately and as Itara struggled to grab hold of the prototype’s energy, the jackal was in front of her before she realized. She jumped and nearly lost the prototype, but stumbled back enough to put distance between them again.

“Where did you get that?!”

Itara stared him down before taking another step back, grinning, “Doesn’t matter now, right?” She had only a brief second to react as Infinite attacked, but managed to get a handle on the prototype’s energy. The room around them crackled and snapped as the fake Chaos exploded into the boxes again, causing Shadow to miss another kick and throwing him off-balance. However, he had no time to right himself as the brief interaction between Itara, Infinite, and the two Rubies caused the room to explode with a crackling energy, breaking down the illusions and sending everyone present into the far walls of the real room.

Shadow collected himself the quickest and landed on his feet, though slid back several inches before coming to a stop. Infinite was sent spiraling across the room, but as soon as he righted himself again, he cast a wary glance towards the others and disappeared. Itara, however, was thrown back against the nearby wall and landed with a _thud_ and a cry. Shadow watched after the disappearing Infinite, cursing under his breath, before turning his new frustration to the time traveler. She remained still until he reached her, but whimpered as she reached up to rub her head.

“What was that?!”

She silently pushed herself to her feet, wavering as she did so. Shadow scowled when he got no response, but turned his attention to the communicator on his wrist to switch it back on and contact the others. As soon as he radioed in, there was a frantic response from Tails.

“Shadow! What’s going on?! Where have you been?!”

Shadow grumbled under his breath before responding, “We ran into trouble. What’s the status of the Death Egg?”

“The Death Egg was destroyed but we never heard back from you and we’re losing the battle!”

Another loud curse, which finally caught the attention of the dazed time traveler beside him. He glanced over, but hitched when he did. He glanced back at the communicator before responding, keeping an eye on the tiny hedgehog that dropped back to her knees before him. “Where is everyone? What’s happening?”

“We took out the Death Egg but when we never heard back from you, we couldn’t wait any longer and went to face Robotnik and Infinite at Imperial Tower. We were handling the copies just fine, but we’ve got the _sun_ dropping on us right now! Where are you?!”

Shadow visibly winced at the news, “We’re still in the base. I’m on my way.” There was silence, then a quiet agreement before the communication ended. He turned back to the time traveler, who barely seemed conscious, and studied her.

Whatever caused the explosion during the fight seemed to manifest on the small girl’s body. The green and purple in her right eye had swapped colors and there was a strange, molten white line running up her arm from the hand holding the prototype ruby. He wasn’t sure what happened but he needed her to snap out of it. Though, now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure how much he trusted her. Not that he ever did before. Reaching over, he snapped his fingers in front of her face in an attempt to get her attention, knowing they would likely still need her help, one way or another. Her eyes zoned in after a few snaps and she finally focused in and looked up at him in horror.

“We need to go. Now.”

It took several minutes of processing before the hedgehog girl finally shook her head and seemed to realize what he said. She slowly pushed herself back to her feet again, “What? What’s going on? What happened to Infinite?”

“The Phantom Ruby still has power and there’s trouble on the surface. As much as I don’t trust you after what just happened, we don’t have time to debate, either. Let’s go.”

Itara blinked a couple times to register the situation, though her eye color never returned to normal even after she came to. He wondered if he should point it out but decided it wasn’t worth it. They could worry about it later.

“R-Right. Okay.” She looked down at the prototype and finally seemed to notice the line running up her arm. She stopped short to stare at it, but shook her head and turned back to him, “I’ll meet you up there, then. We can probably both get there faster on our own,” and without waiting for a response, she vanished back into the shadows.

When she reappeared again, it was on the outer edges of the battlefield where the Resistance was gathered, an entire field of fighters and clones stopped short and staring above them. The city was on the far side of the long, flattened expanse, and a crop of hills were to their back. Robotnik’s tower loomed far above them, with Infinite and Robotnik hovering between the field and city. Sonic and crew. Team Chaotix. Even Zero and the repaired Omega stood, staring up. Itara followed their line of vision, trying to ignore the burning on her arm, her eyes widening in shock and horror once she did.

Just above the battlefield was a massive, furious _sun_ , slowly descending on them. The blazing heat permeated the air, fires roared as the nearby forests combusted, the grass across the hills scorched black. Itara’s breath caught in her throat as she looked up at the fiery, reddened sky, her legs wobbling beneath her, her arm all but forgotten. The prototype ruby dropped from her hand as feeling left her limbs.

_Why here?!_


	20. Shattered Timelines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itara faces off against Infinite... but at what cost?

Solaris.

Solaris was here.

He was going to destroy even this world.

She was going to have to watch yet another timeline be destroyed.

Everything she’d done, everything she’d tried to do, did none of it matter? Was this a fate she couldn’t change?

Itara zoned back into reality as she felt someone violently shaking her shoulders, nearly tearing them off in the process. She could hear the vague sounds of panic around her, but none of the words registered. Not until the shaking stopped and a pair of sharp, blue eyes moved into her line of sight, glowing against the dark expression on the face they belonged to.

“Snap out of it.” She blinked, attempting to focus on the eyes in front of her, though the falling sun remained a harsh glow in her peripheral. “If you’re going to do something, do it _now_.”

What?

What could she possibly do now?

“I am not getting stuck in this world!”

This world? She blinked. Her vision focused in on the familiar blue eyes, the red helmet, the long, blonde hair. “Zero?” His scowl only darkened but the glow behind him grew ever brighter and hotter.

“This is no time for your meltdowns! You’re the only one who can do something about this, right? So, _do it_.”

She jerked at the accusation but shook her head and closed her eyes to calm back down. This wasn’t Solaris. This was only an illusion created by the Phantom Ruby. An illusion only she’s immune to. She opened her eyes again and looked down at the prototype… and the long, white line blazing up her arm. The burn stung and she had no idea what caused it, but she didn’t have time to worry about it, either. She knew now that she could stop Infinite’s virtual realities. It was time to find out just how much power the prototype could give her. It was, quite possibly, _exactly_ the time for one of her meltdowns.

With a slow release of her breath, she picked the prototype back up and looked up to Zero, only then noticing the group of mobians surrounding them, including Shadow. She studied the panicked faces around her, all looking to her to save them, inwardly cringing at the attention. She wasn’t a hero-type. She didn’t want this kind of attention. But she knew what needed to be done and focused on Zero, nodding, “Right. You’re right, I’ll take care of this. I know how.”

Zero watched her closely to make sure she meant it before standing back to his full height again as he’d been kneeling to reach her. “Then I suggest you hurry.”

She forced a grin and reminded him, “ _Time God._ ” She shrugged her backpack off, holding it out to him, “it’ll weigh me down plus…” she looked around at the others and back to him, “things are about to get… _explosive_.” He took the bag and crossed his arms again while she looked around at the group of mobians, studying their various expressions before centering on Knuckles, “I suggest you call the Resistance back. Get them off the battlefield and as far from me as possible.”

“What?”

She reached for the prototype’s power again, pulling on far more of it than ever before. Her eyes swapped colors, her crystals ran up her hands and spines, and both arms burst into flame as the area around her heated up further. The mobians around them stepped back in shock and confusion, Zero taking his own step back to avoid the incoming explosion. “Call the Resistance back. If you wish them to remain intact. I’ve never tested the full strength of this power before,” she warned before turning to face the far-off Robotnik and Infinite again. “The Egg Carrier will be nothing compared to this,” she tossed to Zero as she headed for the battlefield, drawing more power from the prototype in the process.

The field between them was swarmed with still-fighting Resistance members and Infinite’s copies. Fire and lightning sparked and scorched the endless copies in a desperate attempt to fight until the bitter end. Even with the blazing heat of the falling sun, a heat Itara could feel less and less as her own temperature exploded out, the Resistance did it’s best to make any sort of headway. She watched with satisfaction as they slowly withdrew as she passed, however, on Knuckles’ command. They would hopefully get out of range of the blast, but she couldn’t guarantee anything.

There was a point where it wouldn’t have concerned her. When she realized she wasn’t mortal and their plights weren’t her own. She was immortal. The daughter of a God. What did she care about the mortals and their short, often wasted lives? She was part of an eternal Sun God. She had powers no one else did. She could travel through _time_. Rewrite history. Forever change the future. Fate was entirely in her hands and not even Sonic could stop her.

Except she hadn’t been unstoppable at all, had she? The one to teach her to use those powers, the one that introduced that immortality to her, had also been the one to break that illusion. She died at the hands of that Sun God and she had to start over, without those powers, and relearn to live life. Yet, even when she tried to stay out of the way of the world the second time through, he _still_ shattered it all. Even in another timeline, in another world, where he was still _split_ , he was still in her way. And now she would do anything necessary to stop _him_.

She looked up to find the doctor and his latest lacky, spotting them hovering far behind the battle lines, and took a deep breath. With a quick glance behind her, ensuring the Resistance was as far as possible and retreating, she locked the prototype in her grip and released the building energy. The blast was massive. The entire field of copies and the few Resistance fighters that had lagged behind the furthest were blown away, leaving only a several-mile-wide scorch mark where they once stood. Even Robotnik and Infinite were blown back by the blistering heat and the Resistance that had moved back towards the hillsides took as much cover as possible behind nearby rock outcroppings, having been warned by Zero of the incoming attack. The distant fires caused by the heat of the fake sun erupted with the intense heat of the explosion, the glowing orange turning hot white before vaporizing the trees they’d clung to.

The interruption and complete annihilation of an entire army drew the attention of the baffled and confused Robotnik and the confused and now furious Infinite. Robotnik stared in shock at the scorched-black battleground and the tiny, crystallized hedgehog at the center of it but Infinite moved first to face her. She waited patiently as the black and white jackal darted back down to ground-level to meet her, his fury more evident in his body language than his hidden expression.

“ _What are you_?” he fumed.

“A trembling child,” Itara mocked, melting into a shadow, allowing Infinite to zip straight through where she once stood in his attempted attack. She materialized behind him, tilting her head, “You asked if this world could offer you a challenge, did you not?” She spread her arms out and grinned, “Here I am.” When he turned to face her again, she looked to the gem embedded in his chest, “I wonder if the creature powering that gem knows of its use?” She met his gaze again and held a crystallized claw out to him, “I offer you this one opportunity, Infinite. Join me, join a battle far greater than this world has to offer. Find a new world of power you could never imagine. Or fight me and pit your simple use of a power you don’t understand against the power of an immortal Time God. Your choice.”

Infinite studied her for a mere moment before laughing harshly at the suggestion, “How about I personally send you to oblivion, instead?”

Itara put her arm back down and stared at him. As he activated the Ruby’s power, glowing with the red energy of the gem, she shook her head and reached for the prototype’s power, fires wrapping up around her arms again as she stated darkly, “I _am_ oblivion.”

Infinite’s first mistake was not realizing she was immune to the Phantom Ruby’s projections… but he that was not immune to _her_ power. He summoned several dozens of copies to surround and attack her but Itara stood her ground and summoned her own, single, towering purple and black, glowing monster to wipe them out. A complete fallout of creation-on-creation battle ensued. Crystal Biters tore through Shadow copies. Massive golems smashed fake Metal Sonics. A Solaris-sized phoenix ripped and smoldered dozens of defenseless Chaos’. Infinite floated further away from the battle and Itara was eventually forced to do the same to avoid being caught up in the battle. But it was when he tried to attack her directly with a line of cannons that he finally truly realized what he was up against.

She stared up at the cannons, waiting until they fired before vanishing again. Similarly, every beast she summoned to fight his vanished with her. Duplicates all across the field bounced uselessly off the ground and slid past enemies that were no longer there. Infinite’s eyes narrowed in confusion as he looked around for the missing hedgehog, eventually lowering back to the ground where she once stood, looking around in confusion, clearly on edge.

“Where did you go?!” he called out angrily, whipping around, not noticing his shadow shifting unnaturally beneath him.

“Your field of vision must be awful in that helmet,” her voice came, though he couldn’t tell from which direction as he jerked around, looking for her. “I’m right here.” His shadow shifted and warped below him, but it wasn’t until the hedgehog slowly materialized, consuming the jackal above her with fire, that he finally realized and darted away from the ground again. He didn’t get far. While Infinite was distracted by the fire that caught on his tail and zipped off, attempting to put as much distance between him and the hedgehog as possible, Itara summoned another massive, glowing creature to block his path. Though, this time, she took a note from his book and the great beast Iblis rose from the fires with a bellowing roar and knocked the panicked jackal back. It vanished as quickly as it appeared, but it was enough.

Infinite crashed into the ground but as Itara cautiously approached, the world wavered and shifted around them. She stopped short, hovering to avoid falling as the ground shook and slanted. Infinite struggled back to his feet, putting distance between them again. He took a short minute to regain his composure, shaking his head, before scowling back down at the green-eyed monster staring up at him.

“This is more than the prototype should be capable of,” he hissed, “How are you doing this?”

“Hundreds of years and dozens of timelines of practice,” Itara grinned up at him.

Infinite remained silent but shook his head again and looked up. “No matter. This distraction was meaningless. Whatever you are, you still failed to stop my plan.” Behind them, the sun continued to descend on the world. It was mere seconds from colliding with the earth and had already done immeasurable damage to the area around it, taking out several of the taller buildings in Metropolis. It seemed impossible to stop.

But Itara only grinned wider.

“Did I?”

Infinite’s attention snapped back to her as she motioned towards the falling sun… and the far-off figure flying directly into it. “What?!” Infinite looked back to question her, but she was gone and the remnants of a portal dissipated where she once stood. He growled and cursed under his breath before taking off after the figure.

Itara jumped onto the back of a phoenix as soon as she exited the portal, commanding it to fly into the sun. She could only go back a couple minutes and didn’t have much time before the sun would do irreparable damage to the world, luckily she only needed to make sure she had a head start on Infinite, hoping her minions would keep him at bay long enough for her to destroy the illusion again. The gem sparked and flashed violently in her hand the closer she got, causing her to wince when the energy zapped through the gem and up her damaged arm. The glowing white line from before burned furiously, but she tried to keep her focus off it. The prototype was threatening to wrangle control from her and she had to fight to keep hold of the power. But the closer to the falling sun she got, the more violently the gem reacted. She started to wonder if it was even the prototype that the energy was reacting to.

The sun’s heat burned around her, but it was no different than standing beside Solaris. Despite the blackened edges around her clothes and the white-hot metal buttons on her overalls, the sun’s heat didn’t much bother her. However, what did distract her was the molten burning running up and down her arm. It was hardly subtle to begin with and it worsened the more she tried to control the Phantom Ruby’s reality. The air around her filled with a furious, sparking electricity that bounced off the prototype, causing the glow around it to waver and its response to give in and out. She could feel the phoenix beneath her gain and lose solidity, threatening to give out at any moment, but it was the sudden rush of power that finally broke her concentration.

Before she even knew what was happening, something – or someone, more likely – knocked her off the bird and attempted to grab the prototype from her. The second they touched it, however, the backlash that had been threatening since entering the sun’s sphere exploded out in a powerful burst of flames and static electricity that ran through her entire body. Molten lava ran through her blood as the foreign hand that still had a grasp on the prototype convulsed violently. A horrid screech of pain tore through her ears, though whether it was her own or the other’s, she didn’t know. All she knew was that it felt like her very soul was being ripped in half as her vision filled with a white-hot light she couldn’t block out, no matter how she tried.

The last thing she recalled before the blinding light finally faded to black was the prototype shattering to dust in her hand and a scream of agony filling her head. She didn’t know what happened, or whether she succeeded or not, but as thousands of flashing images filled the darkness in her head, she decided she no longer cared. Her body was in unspeakable agony and thousands of timelines and possibilities were flashing through her head, threatening to crack it open.

Sonic and Elise in a wide, green field. Mephiles speaking with Silver and Blaze in the lab. Iblis roaring through the molten lava of the volcano. Metal Sonic’s initial creation. RK, covered in vines, chasing after someone she couldn’t see. A black and white jackal, defeated by Shadow. Sonic and a small, blue humanoid robot traversing a dark hallway. Robotnik and some strange, white-haired man. Chaos rampaging through Station Square. A massive, wolf-like, rabid Sonic running through the dark streets of Spagonia. Tails Doll racing through a wide-open track. Zero battling a less demented-looking Sigma in a rundown warehouse.

The scepter.

The flame.

The Phantom Ruby.

The Chaos Emeralds.

Super Sonic.

Several erased worlds.

And eventually, darkness. Itara had never been so grateful to see nothing in her many lives. She wasn’t even sure she _wanted_ to wake up again. But for the time being, she would enjoy the numbness.


	21. Aftershock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itara reawakens after the ill-fated clash with Infinite to a world of pain and confusion. Not only is her body severely damaged, but she's lost her grasp on the timelines entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoooo-boy okay. I know. It's been... a hot minute since the last chapter and it was a bit of a cliffhanger to suddenly drop off the map at.
> 
> I apologize. Real life stuff hit me in the face rather suddenly and heavily (nothin' like 2020!) and I needed some time to step back and just sort of... deal with shit. And to be totally honest, I sort of lost steam on this project. I'm not going to get into all that because there's a LOT attached to it but... we're back now! And barring anything ELSE happening, ::Return should finish up smoothly from here on.

The pain was the first to return.

As the numbness faded away, the searing heat slithered its way into focus. It started as a light prickling down her arm but the more aware she became, the wider its reach seemed to grow. The blood in the entirety of her right side felt as if it had turned to fire and no amount of refocusing elsewhere would lessen its effect. She kept her eyes shut tight, half fearing the return of the blinding light, half in hopes that maybe she would return to the quiet of sleep if she laid there long enough. Unfortunately, there was no such luck and eventually, slowly, painstakingly, she opened her eyes again to try and get a handle on her situation.

There was only a grey blur at first. She eventually became aware of the bandages wrapped, rather heavily, around her entire right side, including her eye, so she could only see out of the left one. The room was quiet for the most part, light enough to see, though she couldn’t tell if it was lamp light or natural. But as she blinked, the square patterns of the ceiling slowly came into focus. She vaguely recognized the pattern but couldn’t pinpoint where it came from. Every further attempt to identify her surroundings came to a short halt as the burning became a sudden stabbing and she shut her eyes again and bit back a cry.

“So, you’re awake.”

She would have jumped, had she been able to, having not expected anyone to be nearby. Slowly, she opened her eye again to see a figure move into her line of sight. She didn’t even want to try moving to see them better and stared up at the ceiling panels until the blurry red and white figure stood over her. There was silence while they studied her before moving away again with a distant, “You seem to be in pain. I’ll let someone know.” Heavy, metal boots clacked against cement, followed by the click of a door and another click as it closed. She had no idea who they were, but if they made the pain go away, she’d be happy.

In the several minutes of silence until whoever it was returned, Itara did her best to control her breathing and calm herself down, hoping to recall what happened to put her in such a state. She remembered… nothing. Too much. Strange red cubes. Chaos Emeralds. Anarchy Beryls. Nanites. It wasn’t long before she decided remembering wasn’t worth the headache. Instead, she shifted her focus to her physical surroundings and realized there was something soft and lightweight in the crook of her other arm. Her attempt to move it within sight went about as well as trying to remember, though she did at least get a glimpse of a broken red gem in the corner of her eye. That, at least, she recognized. She had Tails Doll.

…Or was it Kipper?

Visions of the once intact doll flashed through her head. An open track. Or an antique shop? A dark lab or a barely-standing shed in the middle of a forest? Who was Kipper? She couldn’t remember which images were right. They were all jumbled up. Her head was splitting.

She never heard the figure return to the room and didn’t realize someone was standing over her again until there was a hand waving directly in front of her. Her vision cleared again and she briefly confused the concerned two-tailed fox for the doll in her arm. Whoever, he was, he was talking. What was he saying?

“-you move?”

She attempted to voice her confusion, but nothing came out. He repeated the question, “Can you move?” She did her best to shake her head but it only caused the splitting headache to worsen. How was she so badly hurt? She finally recognized Tails for who he was as he seemed to realize something and got her something to help with the pain. Though what she wanted most was to stop the burning. Her limbs weren’t on fire, so far as she could tell, why did they burn so badly? Her attempts to voice her question went unheard and so she was simply left to wait for _something_ to ease off. It didn’t help that she couldn’t remember _why_ she was in this state to begin with.

Tails moved away and disappeared again but spoke with someone else in the room, presumably whoever had been there earlier. “Just let us know if there’s anything we can help with. It’s the least we can do until we find a way to get you guys home.”

Home? What did he mean? Which image was home?

The door clicked again and the heavy metal echoed around the room as the other figure moved back into her view. She could make out more details this time, but the cleared vision didn’t help with her jumbled mess of a head. That wasn’t RK. RK? Which RK? The RK covered in vines? Or the one with the eyepatch? Why did she immediately assume it would be an RK in the first place? The person in front of her had some kind of red and white robotic armor, but the face under the strange helmet was humanoid in shape. With sharp blue eyes. It wasn’t until he spoke up that the familiarly sharp tone came back to her.

“I don’t know what you did, but it seems to have worked. Infinite’s reality was dispersed and there’s been no sign of him since. The others took care of Robotnik afterwards and claim he’s no longer of any concern.” What was he talking about? “Though, no sign of Infinite means the Phantom Ruby is out of reach, as well.” Phantom Ruby?

She had no idea who or what he was talking about or her role in any of it. Was Infinite the reason she was in the shape she was? But why? She didn’t… no, wait. Phantom Ruby. That sounded familiar. She shut her eye again, trying to place the name, but the stabbing in her head was making it difficult. She could only vaguely recognize the figure above her, let alone anything else. Infinite. Phantom Ruby. Robotnik. Infinite. Ruby. Infinite. Infinite. …Infinite?

“Zero?” She opened her eye again to look up at him, finally placing his face. A raised eyebrow was lost under his helmet but he remained silent, watching her strangely. Zero. She knew who that was. He was… a robot. From another world. A world she’s been to. But they came back… back where? Where did they go? Why? There were too many possibilities in her head, she couldn’t tell which one was the right one. “Where… where are we?”

“Back at the Resistance base. The others thought it best to bring you back after the battle. They said they’ve done what they could, but your injuries… seem to be complex. Figures. You can’t even take normal battle damage.”

She was lost again. What Resistance? What others?

“Where is RK?” That name wouldn’t leave her head. He had to be significant.

There was silence for several long moments, causing Itara to focus on the robot more, trying to gauge the situation from his expression. She could only see confusion, though. Why was he confused?

“What… do you remember?” he finally questioned slowly.

“I… I don’t know… I can’t… there are too many timelines. I don’t know which one is mine.”

Zero’s expression only grew more perplexed at her explanation and ensuing panic but after a long moment, he looked away and moved – she guessed – to sit beside her instead of stand. “Do you remember why we came to this world at least?”

“I… no. I don’t even remember what ‘this world’ is.”

It was another long, quiet moment before he sighed heavily. “What on earth did you do?” he breathed, mostly to himself than to her before continuing, “Your world is currently being torn apart by your awakened Gods: Chaos, Gaia, and Solaris. We were after a power source strong enough to fight them when a portal appeared. You and I entered it and ended up back in my world where a strange gem from your world was causing maverick outbreaks. We followed the gem back to this world, which we discovered is an alternate timeline to your own, where Robotnik and this being known as ‘Infinite’ was threatening the world. We’ve been here for several days now, trying to fight this Infinite because you believed the Phantom Ruby embedded in his chest is the power source you’ve been searching for. You fought him but were badly injured in the fight, though it was successful in saving this world. Now we simply need to find the Ruby again and get us both back home.”

The room went silent as Zero finished his explanation and Itara’s head swam. There were multiple images with Solaris, Chaos, and Gaia, but all of them separate. She was struggling to recall a situation where they were all active at the same time. Let alone this entire situation with world-jumping and Infinite. Though apparently her continued silence and confusion tipped Zero off that she was still struggling to understand. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and suddenly there was a journal of some kind in front of her face, “You keep extensive notes about everything in here. If you’re having trouble remembering, perhaps you should look through this.” He gave it a moment of thought before adding, “though, perhaps its best you rest first. I suppose things are safe for now. You have time to rest a bit more.”

She debated for several long minutes but eventually, the idea of more rest won out. Perhaps, after she slept again, she’d remember more and the pain would lessen. With a half-hearted attempt at a nod, she closed her eye again and tried to keep her focus off the pain. She desperately wanted to sleep. If only to avoid the pain. Luckily, though she was unsure how, she managed to slip back into a light sleep again.

The next time she awoke, it was to voices at the other end of the room. They were speaking quietly but she could make out what they were saying eventually.

“Not yet. But if you’re concerned, I suppose I can let you know when she wakes again.”

There was an awkward chuckle before, “Uh, yeah, we’d appreciate it.”

She kept her eyes shut, not wanting to invite conversations just yet and waited until she heard the door close and the heavy metal boots return to her side of the room. Once she was sure they were alone again, she opened her one eye – though she had to take a moment and wonder why she couldn’t open both of them. What was wrong with her other eye?

“Who was that?” she questioned, turning her head as much as possible to try and see the robot sat nearby. She only got so far. Just enough to see the top of his helmet. She decided the ceiling was interesting enough to look at, after all.

“Sonic. This is the third time he’s asked since we’ve returned. I’m getting tired of answering.”

Heh. She closed her eye and took as deep of a breath as she could before shifting her body. It still hurt. She had almost no control over her right side at all, but the left seemed otherwise fine. She wanted to sit up but was unsure if she would be able to hold herself up, given her condition. “Can you help me sit up?”

“Can you not do it yourself?”

“No.”

There was silence, then a light sigh before he moved back into her field of vision. With a look of utter disinterest, he reached down to help her move up and back against the bed’s headboard. It hurt to move but it was better than lying down. She made sure the pillow was propped up behind her before letting out a long, shaky breath and looked over what she could see. The entire right side of her body was wrapped in bandages from head to foot but she could see hints of the stark white lines poking out at the edges. She reached up to poke one with her good arm but winced as soon as she did and put her arm back down.

“What happened?”

“I intended to ask _you_ that,” Zero stated, moving back to the chair that was placed next to the bed. “Do you remember what happened yet?”

Itara’s brows furrowed as she looked down, trying to think back. “It’s… blurry… but I remember… we were… Shadow and I headed for the lab in Metropolis, right?” Zero nodded. “What… happened after that? Did we turn the generator off?”

“From what I understand, no. The Death Egg was destroyed but the backup generator was never turned off and we couldn’t get a hold of either of you for several hours afterwards. They decided they couldn’t wait any longer and went to face Robotnik and Infinite. Infinite summoned a sun to drop down on everything, which is when you finally returned and went to face Infinite, yourself.”

“I…,” she started, looking down again in confusion. She fought Infinite? On her own? Why didn’t she remember?

“I can’t say what exactly happened, but there was an explosion, the sun vanished, and you fell out of the sky unconscious, in the state you’re currently in. Honestly, can you do _anything_ without exploding in the process?”

She turned red at the accusation but refocused on what he said. She stopped Infinite but… how? After several minutes of silent consideration, she finally explained, “I don’t remember fighting Infinite. But… I’m having trouble making sense of anything at all. Whatever happened during the fight, I… it’s scrambled my head completely. I don’t remember which timeline we’re even in, let alone which ones line up with what. I have _several_ different images for RK. I can’t remember what happened with Solaris. And there’s… there are so many differing timelines, I don’t know what’s what.” She looked up at him, questioning, “is this the first or second time you’ve been in my world?”

Zero jerked at the question, raising an eyebrow in confusion, “What do you mean _‘second’_?”

She looked down again, shaking her head, “I don’t know. That’s what I mean. I don’t know anything.” She narrowed her eyes at the blanket in front of her, tightening her grip on the doll in her arm. Before she could linger on it much longer, however, Zero placed her journal in her lap and crossed his arms.

“I am going to purposely ignore the idea of ending up in your world more than once, but I suggest reading through that. None of the pages are blacked out, anymore.”

She looked over at him again, blinking, but nodded and turned back to the journal to go through it. She’d forgotten about her journal. But Zero was right, she always kept extensive notes on her timelines. That should straighten everything out. Though, studying the cover, her brows furrowed in confusion again. “This is… different than I remember it.”

Zero glanced over again, “You really don’t remember, do you? From what I heard, you lost your original journal during the incident in Spagonia. This is a new one RK got for you just after Solaris returned.”

“O-Oh. Right. Okay.” What incident in Spagonia?

She spent the next couple hours reading through the journal, recalling most of it and having Zero explain what she didn’t. By the time the next knock on the door came, she was caught back up on the situation at hand but still confused by all the different images still floundering around her head. There was so much that not only didn’t happen, according to her journal, but was outright impossible. Though, one image in particular caught her interest. Sonic and a blue robot… that almost looked like a smaller version of what she recalled X looking like. She would wait to mention it, though, as Zero had gotten up to get the door again.

“Yes, she’s up now,” he stated and glanced back at her, “I assume you’re fine to talk.” She debated that, but it didn’t really sound like a question, either. She really didn’t, but nodded anyway. She could get an update on the situation here. Zero moved back to his chair as Sonic and Tails both moved cautiously into the room, watching Zero before turning their attention to her. They seemed surprised that she was sitting up but winced, she assumed because of the bandages.

“Hey… glad you’re up. How’re ya feelin’?” Sonic questioned, edging towards the bed.

“Awful,” Itara stated flatly, getting another wince from the others.

“We won’t bother you for long, then, we just wanted to check up on you,” Tails added, “do you need anything?”

“An update on the situation would be appreciated.” She wanted to go home. She wanted to get the Phantom Ruby and go wherever her normal home was and never leave whichever was her RK’s side again. As much pain as she was in, her prime focus now was to get home. Though, now that she thought about it… would the Phantom Ruby actually help like she initially thought? What about Infinite?

“Well, since you faced Infinite, the world’s gone back to normal and there’s been no sightings of him. We took care of Robotnik and his final robot so we don’t have to worry about him for the time being,” Sonic explained, crossing his arms and looking off, “Shadow went back to the Metropolis lab and shut it down. Apparently, he found the Chaos Emeralds down there, too. We didn’t realize Robotnik had them this entire time but I’m glad they’re out of his hands now.”

Right. She remembered now. She and Shadow found the Chaos Emeralds on their way to shut the backup generator down. But Infinite showed up. And she… she looked down at her arm again, remembering the white scar that showed up after her brief fight with Infinite. Was that what caused her injuries? Did the same thing happen when she faced him the final time? But _what_ exactly caused it in the first place?

“And the Phantom Ruby?” she questioned, looking up again.

Sonic frowned as he looked back, “As far as we can tell, Infinite still has it. We’ve kept the sensors active, looking for readings, but it’s been a few days and there hasn’t been anything. I’m not sure what you did, but if Infinite was as badly injured as you were then I don’t think we have to worry about him much, either. Which, thanks for that, by the way. We really owe you one. We couldn’t have done this without you.”

Itara flushed up a bit and looked away from them again, mentally stammering for a response, getting a short laugh from the blue hedgehog. With a long exhale, she turned back and stated, “Thank me by finding the Phantom Ruby. The sooner we find that, the sooner this can all be over and done with and I can go home.”

“Shadow’s been on a pretty relentless search for it so I’m sure it’ll turn up sooner rather than later,” Sonic reassured her.

“Right.” She looked down again. She supposed she would just have to wait in the meantime. Obviously, she wasn’t going to be much help as she was, though she wondered just how long something like this would take to heal. _Would_ it even heal? Like Zero said before, this wasn’t a normal injury.

“Do… you mind… if we ask what happened?” Tails spoke up, drawing her attention back to them. “When you fought Infinite. How did you stop him? What was that explosion?”

“I… don’t actually know,” she admitted, frowning and looking down at her arms, “When we faced Infinite in the lab, when he and I came into contact with the prototype, there was some kind of… _backlash_. It left me with this white scar on my arm. Judging by what I can see past the bandages, it looks like the entire right side of my body is covered in that same scar. It’s… possible… it was caused by… our powers clashing. I….” Her brows furrowed as she considered it. Was that it? Was it because they were both technically using Mephiles’ power? Was it a paradoxical incident?

That could possibly explain why she was so confused when she woke up and couldn’t keep the timelines straight. If she caused a paradox, that would explain a lot, actually. Including the extra timelines she was seeing. They could be other connected worlds. Even ones that no longer exist. But if that was the case then… she looked up at Zero again, studying him curiously. If she was correct, then she suddenly understood how the prototype ruby may have gotten into his world. He looked back at her curiously when he realized she was staring at him, raising an eyebrow but saying nothing. She looked away again, turning back to Sonic and Tails, who were also watching her in confusion.

“I suppose there’s little harm in explaining at this point. I already told Shadow, after all,” she sighed. “Remember how I said I was created with part of Solaris’ power?” They nodded. “Well, when I was first created, Solaris was split into two beings: the mind, which went by the name Mephiles, and the power, Iblis. I was originally created from Mephiles’ power and they joined again afterwards to become Solaris. However, I did some digging when I first came to this world. Here, Solaris never rejoined. He’s still separated and while Iblis is safely held by the princess of Soleanna, the artifact Mephiles was sealed in was eventually found by Robotnik. In my world, the day I was created, Shadow and Rouge broke into his lab and stole the artifact and I broke free. He could never make use of either. But here, that never happened. But instead of putting Mephiles’ power into a mobian… he created something that could contain it and be used by someone.”

“The Phantom Ruby?” Tails questioned, shocked.

Itara nodded, “That’s why it has the power to alter reality, though, Infinite doesn’t have the energy to power it entirely on his own. Thus, the generators. Infinite is more or less just a conduit, whereas I’m… well, I was a vessel, like the Phantom Ruby, itself.”

“So, what you’re saying is… you’re the same thing,” Sonic questioned, clearly perplexed by the concept.

“Essentially. And since we’re the same, when I came into direct contact with the Ruby while fighting Infinite, it possibly created a paradox. Two different forms of Mephiles, battling for control. It created a backlash and…,” she motioned with her good arm towards the bandages. “This is the result. Though I can’t say for sure just how it would affect Infinite, it’s likely damaged the Phantom Ruby, itself.” She stared off as the realization hit her, as well. If she was in this state, what _did_ she do to the Phantom Ruby?! What if it no longer worked and she lost her way home? What if she ruined her only chance to save her world?!

The panic set in while the others silently considered the situation. Zero picked up on her silent panicking first, mostly because he’d seen plenty of it by that point. However, as he turned to her, the same realization struck him and a scowl spread across his face. What if they were _both_ stranded here now?

Sonic picked up on the mood before long and looked between the two curiously, unsure what was bothering them and turned to Tails with a look of confusion. It took the fox a bit longer than the other two, but he caught on eventually and frowned. “You… came here hoping the Phantom Ruby could help save your world, right?” he asked, grabbing Itara’s attention as she stared over at him in horror. Once she gave a slow nod, he continued, “knowing what you do now, would you still be able to use it?”

“I… I don’t know,” she frowned, “ _if_ it even still works, there’s no telling what may happen if I try to use it.” But if she couldn’t, where did that leave her? Was everything meaningless after all? There were no other leads. The Phantom Ruby was their only hope. The conversation back in the basement lab with Zero sparked back to her mind and her ears dropped back against her head. Was he right after all? Had she gambled everything on nothing? What was she supposed to do now?

“Guess we’re just gonna have to go double-time on finding Infinite then,” Sonic stated, breaking the tension in the air as he grinned over at the panicking time traveler, “You don’t know what you can do until you try, right? You came all this way to find that Ruby, so the least we can do after you saved our world is help you find it. Shadow’s already out on the hunt but I’ll get the others to join the search. I’m sure he’ll turn up before long. You just focus on resting for now, got it? You’re gonna need your energy when you get home to face down some Gods.” Which a quick flash of a grin, he was gone, leaving a baffled Itara behind to stare after him.

Tails gave a light sigh but smiled and reassured them, “Sonic always keeps good on his promises. He’ll find the ruby, don’t worry. He’s right though, you should rest. I’m going to see if the sensors have picked anything up yet.” With that, he turned around and left, as well, leaving the time traveler and robot behind to consider what they’d said. The room remained dead silent for several minutes, the two mulling over what to do.

Zero broke the silence first as he turned to the time traveler with a fury, “You better have not lost my way home.”

Itara stared up him, wide-eyed, “I…” She cut off immediately and looked away, her ears remaining flat against her head, muttering a soft, “I’m sorry.”

“No. No sorry,” Zero snapped, causing her to wince and attempt to shrink away, “I came along at X’s request, but _you_ were responsible for getting me back home. So either _you_ find that Ruby and _hope_ it works enough to get me back, or _I’ll do it_.”

Itara wasn’t even sure what he planned to do on his own, but between the tone and knowing Zero wasn’t one for empty-threats, she had no doubt that she had better get that Ruby working if she wanted to keep this world intact. She had no time to argue the point further, however, as the massive robot stormed out of the room, despite her calls after him, and cringed when the door slammed shut with an echoing _boom_. She listened to the furious clank of his boots down the hall until it vanished and sighed.

Maybe there was still a chance the ruby could be used. They didn’t know anything for sure yet. She reached up to touch the bandages wrapped around her head, lamenting everything that had happened. Sure, she saved this world, but at what cost? What if she couldn’t save her own after all? What if she doomed this world to Zero’s fury? There were so many people counting her. She couldn’t stand the idea that she’d failed them. She felt sick.


	22. Reluctant Allies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itara tries to straighten the timelines out in her head, but without Zero's assistance it's proving difficult. He still hasn't returned and they've gotten wind of Infinite's location.

Itara spent the next couple days fervently going through her journal, attempting to realign the images in her head with what it said. It wasn’t an easy task and the fact that Zero wasn’t there to confirm anything wasn’t helping. The others came by often enough, to check in on her and update her about the efforts to find Infinite, but so far, the search had been fruitless. They were able to help her identify what instances were from their world, at least, but with the lack of insight into her own world, she became less and less interested in their continued presence. She wanted to go home. The burning in her right side hadn’t lessened much and when she finally took the bandages over her eye off, she made the horrifying discovery that _they_ weren’t what was obstructing her view. She’d gone blind in that eye.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out why, either. The burning scars that ran through her right side stretched out across the whites of her eye, as well. Well, one side was still white, at least. The scar burned directly through the pupil and stretched all the way up to her forehead, glowing white against the molten red and dull green. It was horrifying to look at and she immediately asked for new bandages to wrap it back up, not wanting to see it again even by accident. There weren’t a lot of reflective surfaces in the base, but she didn’t want the others to see it, either. If she wasn’t so panicked about not being able to get back home, she would have been furious with Infinite for causing it all. Though, she supposed the real source of all this trouble was Robotnik… and Solaris.

She’d been staring at a journal page detailing the game night with Tobi and a few of her classmates, which she only vaguely remembered, when another knock came from the door. She called out to let them know they could enter, though hardly sounded enthusiastic about the coming conversation. She stared at the journal entry a moment longer before looking up, expecting Sonic or Tails, but was caught off-guard when it was Shadow, instead. From what the others said, he’d barely been back to the base since the fight, spending most of his time hunting down Infinite. She hadn’t seen him since their trip down to the lab.

He stood near the door and studied her a moment before explaining, “We’ve got a heading on Infinite.”

Her eyes widened at the news as she moved the journal aside, though couldn’t get far on her own. She still had no control over half of her body. “Where? How long ago?”

“Mystic Jungle, near Robotnik’s old lab, about twenty minutes ago.” He eyed her suspiciously and sighed, “Not that you’re going anywhere in that condition, I suppose.”

Her ears lowered as her gaze returned to the blanket in front of her, her eye narrowing. They finally found Infinite, she didn’t have time to be stuck in bed. Unfortunately, she couldn’t use her powers to assist her, either. She’d tried before and it caused _severe_ pain that nearly incapacitated her for several hours. “Have you… seen Zero at all?” Then again, she doubted he’d be willing to carry her, considering their last conversation. Shadow shook his head and she sank lower, sighing and looking up at him rather desperately, “I don’t… suppose you’d be… willing to help me get there?”

Shadow eyed her incredulously, saying nothing. She didn’t think so. However, when she looked down again, he tossed something on the bed. “I’ll take care of Infinite and make sure he can’t escape again. You call your robot back. You can come and interrogate him after I’m done with him.” He turned and left the room, leaving her alone again. She looked up to watch him leave, then down to see what he tossed her. It just barely landed within her reach but she managed to pull it over with the help of the blanket. It was one of the communicator watches. She picked it up and looked it over, switching it on – with some difficulty – and pressed the radio button to see if it worked. The radio buzzed, then Sonic’s voice came through, loud and clear.

“What’s up?”

“Is… Is Zero on this channel?”

There was silence, on all ends, and eventually Itara sighed. He really was mad, wasn’t he? Sonic broke the silence again, asking what was going on, and she explained what Shadow told her. He gave a quick quip about Shadow going after Infinite on his own, but ended the conversation by telling her to wait there and he’d be there soon. The line went silent and Itara leaned back against the headboard, putting the communicator down. Why Sonic? Why, of all hedgehogs, did it have to be Sonic again? As soon as she got that Ruby, if she never interacted with any Sonic ever again, she would be happy. Unfortunately, she knew that was impossible and at this point, whatever she had to do to get back home, she would have to take. She didn’t know what kind of state Infinite would be in, especially after facing Shadow first, but even if she had to take the Phantom Ruby _from_ him, she _would_ get home. Though she wasn’t looking forward to the tear and pull of going through a portal again. She wasn’t sure how well her body would handle it, but she didn’t have much choice on the matter, either.

It was only a matter of minutes before there was a knock at the door again and Sonic was swinging it open before she could even respond. However, she hadn’t expected the additional entourage behind him. Not only was Sonic standing at the foot of the bed, antsy as ever, but Knuckles and Tails stood behind him, watching her far more patiently. Her brows furrowed as Tails explained, “We’re going with you.”

“We wanna make sure nothing else happens,” Knuckles added, “besides, I’ve been itching to make that jackal pay for what he did to the Resistance. Especially since you obviously aren’t in the shape to fight again, if it comes to that.”

Itara’s face burned, though not from the scars this time. They didn’t let her argue the point, either, as Sonic confirmed their heading and Knuckles moved to pick her up off the bed. She stiffened at the movement, not from the pain of being moved, but from the close contact with the red echidna. While Tails gathered what few belongings she had around the room, Knuckles fixated her comfortably on his back and Sonic radioed Shadow not to have too much fun without him. Itara didn’t know how to respond and decided ignoring it was the best course of action. Unfortunately, as they moved out of the room and she found a strange sort of comfort nestled against the long, red quills, ignoring it became increasingly impossible.

Images of snuggling up to similar red – and white – quills came to the forefront of her mind. The heavy footfalls, the serious tone, the tight, protective grip. A hook wrapped around one of her legs to keep in her place. Hook? She looked down to Knuckles’ thick, spiked gloves. No hook, but the two jutting spikes on the back of his fists reminded her of another set of long, metallic claws. The other hand had broken off. She replaced it with a hook.

 _She_ replaced it?

Her brows furrowed as the wispy images flickered in and out of her mind amongst all the others. The RK with the eyepatch. He had a hook. Was that her RK? She looked up at Knuckles’ quills again. The white on that RK’s quills were more jagged than straight across, she remembered that. Or… was it more speckled? Wait. Did her RK have black on his shoulders? No, she was sure he was all red.

“Hey, hey!” She snapped out of her thoughts with a start, looking down at a clearly disgruntled Knuckles. “Watch the heat!”

Her eye widened as she noticed not only that her temperature was rising again, but that her claws were crystallized and digging into his shoulder. She immediately snapped her fingers free, nearly tumbling off his back in the process if Sonic hadn’t rather quickly appeared to catch her and keep her in place while she reigned the heat back in again. “S-Sorry,” she stammered once she was situated again. “I… I was trying to… remember RK…”

“RK?” Knuckles looked back at her suspiciously and she quickly shook her head, realizing she almost revealed far too much.

“Uh, n-never mind. It’s… never mind.”

Luckily, the others dropped the subject easily enough and the rest of the run out to Mystic Jungle was silent aside from Sonic’s usual quips. However, as they crested the hill to reach the lab, a sudden fluctuation in the sky above them caught their attention. “What was that?” Sonic questioned, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

It was late in the day. The sun was setting behind them, casting a wide, orange glow across the sky that darkened to a deep purple ahead. The hills and dense forest of the jungle darkened their run considerably, which was likely the only reason they even caught the change against the otherwise bright orange backdrop. There was a flicker, hardly more than a larger star, but instead of settling back into the night sky, its glow grew until the top of the forest burned with the harsh red. Itara’s stomach sank at the sight, but she closed her eye and took a deep breath to calm back down.

“Is it Infinite again?” Knuckles growled.

“Guess we’ll have to find out,” Sonic responded, picking up speed again as the others followed suit. Itara had her doubts, but couldn’t say for sure, either way. On the one hand, the Phantom Ruby lost its power source and was likely too damaged to create too powerful of an illusion right now. But on the other hand, if it was somehow Infinite, it meant the Ruby still worked and she could possibly still use it to get home. Wherever home was. Then again, Shadow should have already been there ahead of them. Was he facing trouble somehow? Well, she supposed Sonic was right, they’d find out when they reached them.

Sonic arrived well ahead of them and was in the process of talking Shadow down from pummeling the jackal in question more than he apparently already had. Itara spent the past couple days debating how best to handle the situation and the possible use of the Phantom Ruby, but all her plans and concerns fizzled away when she caught sight of the defeated Phantom Ruby user.

Just as she expected, the interaction between their powers left him wounded, though not nearly as badly as her. The same, white hot scars cracked out around where the Phantom Ruby was embedded in his chest and the Ruby, itself, had a jet-black crack running through the center. But other than the obvious blunt force of Shadow’s fist, Infinite seemed fine, physically. She wondered just what sort of damage the interaction left on the Phantom Ruby and why the jackal hardly seemed to be fighting back, despite his previous cockiness. But it did confirm one thing: the fluctuation above them wasn’t caused by Infinite.

The conversation between the two hedgehogs stopped as soon as they noticed her arrival and turned to her with heavily differing expressions. Shadow looked as annoyed as ever, most likely because Sonic put a stop to his ‘fight’, but Sonic looked relieved that they arrived. Maybe because he thought they would put a more final stop to Shadow, though Itara couldn’t fathom why he would ever think so. No one could stop Shadow if he _really_ didn’t want to stop. Especially not her. _Maybe_ Knuckles, if he was in a bad enough mood. Instead, she refocused her attention on Infinite, who was firmly pressed into the ground under Shadow’s foot. She almost felt sorry for him, having been in that position herself once before, but mentally shook her head.

“He doesn’t seem to be able to use his powers anymore,” Shadow explained, scowling down at the struggling jackal while the others exchanged confused expressions. “So far as I can tell, there’s been no reality-altering since I arrived.” He looked to Itara to confirm his suspicions. She glanced around as best she could with her limited mobility, trying to determine if he was correct, but so far as she could tell, there was nothing. Nothing but the fluctuation, which Sonic quickly pointed out.

“Then what is that?” the blue hedgehog questioned, pointing to the barely-visible glow above them.

Shadow glanced up, his eyes narrowing as soon as he caught sight of it before fixing his gaze on the jackal again.

“Let him up, Shadow, it’s not him,” Itara clarified, “Look at the Phantom Ruby, it’s too damaged and he doesn’t have any backup power. He seems physically fine, but between you, Sonic, _and_ Knuckles, I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

“Just leave me be,” Infinite growled as Shadow dragged him back to his feet, though kept a sharp grip on his arm just in case. “You beat me. That’s it. What more do you want?”

Itara silently debated her position for a moment before quietly nudging Knuckles about letting her down. She knew she couldn’t stand on her own, but if she could at least have one foot on the ground, she would feel better. Besides, on the off chance that Infinite _did_ attack, she didn’t want to impede one of the strongest attackers in their group. Knuckles looked at her with uncertainty before shifting to get her on her feet, though kept a strong grip on her to keep her up. Infinite glared over at them at the movement, though seemed taken aback by her state.

“To be frank, Infinite,” Itara started, shifting to test her ability to stand straight, she didn’t get far, “I came here for the Phantom Ruby.” The jackal jerked and scowled, but remained silent. “I asked you before if you knew what it really was and, from what I could tell, it didn’t seem like you did. Do you want to know now? Do you want to know why our interaction caused the reaction it did? Why you can’t harness it’s power now?”

“What does it matter at this point?”

“You say that a lot. It matters. It matters _because_ of what it is. Because you and I have the same power, Infinite.” To be entirely honest, she was only beginning to put the pieces together again, herself. She knew her home was in danger. She knew she came in search of the Phantom Ruby. And she knew what the Phantom Ruby _was_. As the jackal stared at her in his own confusion, she also knew she couldn’t reveal her own uncertainty and had to pretend everything was planned. Luckily, hundreds of years of acting made it second nature. “It’s why I was immune to your attacks. What created the Phantom Ruby in this world, created _me_ in another. However, you’re merely a conduit for half of that power, I am part of the whole. The Phantom Ruby merely holds the essence of this world’s Mephiles. I _am_ the Sun God, Solaris.”

She went silent to let the message sink in, watching with interest as Infinite battled with her words. He really didn’t understand what the Phantom Ruby truly was. She had no doubt that Robotnik knew exactly what he was doing when he created it, but Infinite didn’t ask many questions before becoming the test subject. He only wanted the power to take his revenge, he didn’t care how. Once again, she almost felt sorry for him. So desperate for revenge. But it only led to defeat in the end.

With a light sigh, she added, “I can explain this to you in greater detail later, but for the time being, we have bigger problems.” She looked up to the fluctuation again, then back to Infinite, “Let me tell you, outright, that trying to get revenge against Shadow is a meaningless task. I’ve tried. On multiple occasions, in multiple timelines. We’ve all been there, trust me, but it’s not worth it. Shadow is a pain in the ass we all just learn to deal with eventually.”

“What are you getting at?” the aforementioned hedgehog scowled.

“My head may be scrambled, but even I can work out that you’re constantly at the center of trouble, Shadow. You’re too powerful for your own good, but it means you’re useful to have around, as well.” She looked at Infinite again, “it’s better to take the loss when it comes to Shadow and move on. Even Sonic’s lost to him multiple times.”

“Hey!”

“You have. But that’s why revenge plots against Shadow never pan out. Infinite, you still hold an incredible power but if you continue to use it the same way, you’re only going to suffer further defeat at Shadow’s hand. I’m not asking you to turn a new leaf and turn good guy but take this as a word of caution from someone who has the exact same problems with Shadow that you do. Give it up.”

“What do _you_ know?!” Infinite finally snapped, “You know nothing of me!”

“I know plenty. I’m a time god,” Itara half shrugged, forgetting for a brief moment about her incapacitated right side. “I’ve seen your loss at Shadow’s hand. I’ve seen the destruction of your mercenary group. I saw your transformation into Infinite.” The jackal jerked, staring at her in silence, though the others watched in confusion. She ignored them and continued, “The point is, I need the Phantom Ruby’s power. I’ve crossed time and dimensions to find it. I need it to get home and I need it to _fix_ my home. There are much bigger dangers than you, than Shadow, in my world and I’ve been searching for the Phantom Ruby to fix it and I _will_ have that power, one way or another-.”

“Too bad for you, then, it no longer works. Whatever you did during the fight, the Phantom Ruby is broken. It no longer has whatever power you think it does.”

Itara studied the cracked gem in the center of his chest and vaguely shook her head, “The power is still there. It’s simply dormant. When we fought, it created a paradox. Two forms of the same power, battling for control. That’s what caused all this,” she glanced down at her bandages, “it caused a momentary shattering of the timeline. It nearly ruptured my entire being in that instance but my powers still exist, you got off easier because you’re merely a conduit. My powers are painful to use, but they’re there. I imagine the Phantom Ruby is in a similar state. Trying to activate its powers causes a feedback and it shuts itself down before more damage can be done.” She glanced up again and added, “I have a feeling that’s likely what caused _that_ , as well.”

The others followed her line of sight to the strange glow as it gave off a slow pulse. Sonic frowned and looked curiously – and warily – between them, “Can you fix it?”

“I can’t say for sure,” Itara frowned, looking down at them again, “My working theory is that my powers, at least, will realign themselves once I return to my world. My Solaris is whole in my world and the direct connection to him will fix the damage with time. It’s also likely that removing me from this timeline will fix the fluctuation but I can’t be sure.” She glanced over to Infinite and added, “It’s also possible that the Phantom Ruby can be repaired in the same way. Solaris no longer exists in this world and never can again. The Phantom Ruby may never properly recover without his direct influence. If I take it back home, though, I may still be able to use it. But it can never be used in this world again.” Of course, that was an outright lie. Solaris absolutely could still be reformed in this world. It would be more difficult, due to the Iblis’ current seal in this world, but that wouldn’t serve her purpose.

The group remained silent for several long minutes to consider what she said to varying degrees of acceptance. Sonic’s group appeared pleased that the Phantom Ruby could never be used again, Shadow was still studying the fluctuation with concern, but it was Infinite’s reaction that Itara was most interested in. She still couldn’t read much under the obscuring metal mask, but she could read his body language. His shoulders slumped and his entire body seemed ready to collapse. That was exactly the response she was hoping for, though.

However, as soon as she turned back towards the others to discuss possibilities regarding the fluctuation, Infinite’s stature suddenly shifted. Before she realized it had even happened, the jackal twisted free of Shadow’s grip and dove for her in a burst of fury. Luckily, with the Phantom Ruby inactive, Sonic was once again faster and Infinite was eating dirt long before Knuckles could twist Itara out of the way or Shadow could wrangle him back in. The jackal huffed for air, but as soon as he attempted to get up again, the heavy clang of metal boots boomed near them and a blazing neon blue moved dangerously close to the jackal’s back, stopping him in his tracks.

“Z-Zero!” Itara wheezed, though struggled with her own breath after being jerked aside so suddenly.

He tossed her the same scowl as before, clearly no less upset than before, causing her gaze to lower again. “Is the Phantom Ruby useable or not?” he demanded, causing Itara to wince again.

“I-It…,” she looked down and away, then back at Infinite, who was struggling to his feet again. She took as deep of a breath as she could manage, letting it out, “It is. But not right now. It’s damaged, but I believe it can be repaired with direct contact with Solaris. We just have to get it home.”

“How do we get it back to your world if it’s not working?” Zero snapped.

Itara remained silent, but looked up towards the fluctuation again. Her brows furrowed as she considered it, remembering one of the notes in her journal and looked around again. Zero and Sonic saw flashes of her world while they were fighting Metal Sonic. The Phantom Ruby ended up in Zero’s world without their influence and Zero ended up in her world long before any of it started. There was a connection between all of their worlds somehow and they were obviously still intact. They simply had to access them, force them open. With another glance at the fluctuation, she realized it would likely be easier than ever before.

She gave a quick mental nod to herself before answering, “It won’t be a problem. But first,” she looked to Infinite, who was scowling up at the burning saber over him, “Infinite, I want to offer you an option.” She grabbed the tense jackal’s attention, as well as the others. “One way or another, I’m bringing the Phantom Ruby home with me. I can find a way to use it without creating a paradox, though it may take me time, something my world doesn’t have a lot of. But I am a time traveler, I can work with time limits.” His scowl darkened at the insinuation but her own expression remained the same dead, blank stare, “However, you’ve been using it for some time now and clearly have considerable control over it already. I _can_ have Zero take the Phantom Ruby from you by force, but I want to give you an option first. Help me save my world and I can help you become stronger, the right way. I can teach you to use the Ruby’s power properly, without the need for backup power. Leave this world and never see the Shadow who defeated you again, or remain here with nothing but a scar. The choice is yours.”

For the first time, she saw genuine – though brief – fear in the jackal’s eyes as he stared at her, struggling with the ultimatum. She could see Shadow’s suspicious stare out of the corner of her eye and hear the mutters around her, though ignored them. She kept her gaze focused on the jackal, who went from horrified to furious to desperate. She was curious about his response, since she was unfamiliar with his personality beyond the masked villain with infinite power. He didn’t show the same stubborn aggression as Shadow or the playful cockiness of Sonic. She saw uncertainty. Fear. Fury. Desperation.

He scowled over at her, “You expect me to fear a broken, battered _child_ simply because she managed to stop my illusion with the help of one of the prototypes?”

“Firstly, I’m not a _child_ and I would appreciate it if everyone would stop _calling_ me one,” Itara snapped, “I am _hundreds_ of years old and have seen hundreds of thousands of timelines and possibilities! Secondly, I only used the prototype to boost a power I already had. My powers are real. Yours are borrowed. But I can teach you to use them, make them your own. I can give you the opportunity to defeat an enemy far greater than Shadow, should you choose to. Or, as I said, I will take the Phantom Ruby, myself, and leave you here. In Shadow’s care. I can offer you endless potential. Or I can leave you to your suffering. Either way, I’m going home. By the end of the day.”

He continued to scowl at her but while she let him make his decision, Sonic grabbed her attention. “Hey, are you sure about this? You really want to bring _this guy_ back to your world? What if he just causes more trouble?”

“Even if he does come back with me, it’ll take time for the Phantom Ruby’s power to fix itself,” Itara explained, tempted to add ‘if it does’ but decided against it. Solely for Zero’s presence. “Mine will most likely fix themselves first and, once back in my own world, I can make sure he causes no trouble easily. Besides, I have no shortage of… _insurance policies_ back home. Including three rather powerful robots.”

“Right… wait, three?”

“Robots are far from new to me.”

Sonic eyed her suspiciously but dropped the subject, which she was grateful for. Her attention returned to Infinite to gauge his response. She wanted to give him ample time to think it over, to weigh his options, not that he really had any, but if Zero had to take the Ruby by force, that would be that. She intended to go home, however she had to. She would simply prefer not to push her luck with interacting with it, considering her current state, but she wasn’t going to let on that she was even remotely concerned about that.

Finally, Infinite growled, and, with a scowl over his shoulder towards Shadow, pushed himself back to his feet and squared up to face her. The others immediately went on the defensive but Itara only stared at him, unmoving. He silently battled with his decision for the last time before growling, “If I go with you… what do I get out of it?”

“As I stated, I’ll teach you to use the Phantom Ruby properly. In time, you may not need such heavy assistance from an external power source to do the things you once accomplished. Not to mention, it gets you away from your Shadow and I think you may find my… companions… more your speed than those here. We’ve all escaped Robotnik’s control at one point or another. Also, my world is going to require a lot of reshaping after we take care of the current problem, perhaps you can assist in that.”

The final comment, more than anything, grabbed the jackal’s attention. Of course, she wasn’t going to let him have free reign to completely reshape her world but she wasn’t going to mention that, either. She would tell him in more detail exactly the kind of power she held once she convinced him to join her but first, she needed to convince him to join her. “This world has already turned against you, Infinite. Join me and I can offer you the power to change your fate. A new start. A new world.”

She couldn’t help but mentally cringe when she realized what she said, who she sounded like, but she tried to keep it off her face. Infinite’s posture changed as he came to his final position and crossed his arms.

“Fine. I’ll join you. But if you ultimately fail where the doctor once prevailed, I’ll be sure to destroy you for good next time.”

A grin crept across her face when he accepted. Once again, she succeeded where Mephiles once failed. Shadow wasn’t so easily convinced, but it seemed Infinite was. “Trust me, I can do far more than the doctor ever could.”


	23. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, after a long, arduous struggle... Itara returns to her own world.

Zero looked over the group of cautious mobians as they all eyed the recently defeated jackal, waiting for Shadow’s return with a Chaos Emerald. He wasn’t surprised they were so on edge, but the one that should have been the wariest of the situation seemed to be the least concerned. He decided to question the tiny hedgehog and grabbed her attention, moving them away from the group to talk, though kept a sharp eye out. “Are you certain of this?” She looked up at him with the same blank stare and nodded. “What if he turns on you once we return to your world?”

Itara only continued to stare for a moment before glancing towards the defeated Infinite, then back to Zero. “He can try. I wouldn’t put it past him. Even before becoming Infinite, he was a rather ruthless mercenary.” When he prodded further, she sighed and explained, “Between you, Metal, and RK, I think we’ll have plenty of eyes on him. My threat about taking the Phantom Ruby and using it, myself, wasn’t an empty one. If he tries anything, feel free to remind him of this. Don’t actually remove the ruby unless I say so, but… you’re free to… _rough him up_ if the situation calls for it.” Better Infinite than her. “He’s not Shadow. He’ll know when he’s beat. Though I’d prefer to keep him as intact as possible. The more agreeable he is, the easier this’ll be for all of us.”

He studied her carefully, noting the deadpan disinterest in the jackal’s actual wellbeing. He couldn’t help but add, “You’re awfully ruthless, yourself, for someone playing hero.”

“I never recall claiming to be a hero,” she stated flatly, “You said yourself, I need to make sure things get fixed. People are relying on me. My only concern is keeping my world intact and getting you home and I’ll do whatever’s necessary to make that happen. _But_ , if I _can_ gain an ally in the process, I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“And you’re certain you _can_ get me home?”

There was silence as she looked off to consider the answer, “Once the Gods are taken care of, we can use the power of the emeralds and the Phantom Ruby to open another portal to get you back home. But we’ll need to get the Chaos Emeralds away from Chaos, in addition to getting the Phantom Ruby powered again.”

“Could I not simply return to my world now? The portal is clearly connected to my world, as well as yours.”

Silence again. Her brows furrowed in thought for several minutes before she finally looked up, “It’s possible you could, but if you split off from us, I can’t guarantee where you’ll end up, either. If you end up in the wrong timeline, I won’t be there to make sure you can get back to the right place. Also, at least until I can get back to RK and Metal, there would be absolutely nothing stopping Infinite from attacking me. He may be injured, but I’m in a considerably worse state, and all this would have been for nothing.”

He narrowed his eyes in suspicion at her response. He’d heard, over the past eight years, that the time travelers were notorious manipulators, but he’d never seen it in such heavy usage as he had during their trek to find the Phantom Ruby. He’d picked out a number of her lies to the jackal during their conversation but chose not to say anything as it didn’t matter one way or another, as long as the Ruby could still be used. However, having it turned on him in such an obvious manner felt insulting, like she thought he couldn’t see through such blatant manipulation. Though he also supposed she was right to a degree, which proved just how adept she was at it. While it was _likely_ that he would simply return to his world, should he split off, there was also the possibility that he didn’t and, quite frankly, he didn’t feel like dealing with yet more nonsense to get home. He scowled as he debated his options and finally shook his head, “Very well. But don’t think I don’t see through your lies, time traveler.” She stared up at him in brief confusion before a slight smirk broke out and they returned to the group as Shadow made his return.

Shadow kept a cautious eye on Infinite but turned to Zero and Itara to question them, “And you’re certain this will send you back?” He eyed the three that would be leaving and added, “All of you? And fix the rift?”

“Quite certain,” Itara responded, “I could explain the intricate details of how the portals work and how to manipulate their flow but I assume you, of all people, likely already know. At least on minimal terms.” Shadow’s gaze only darkened but once he was certain and Itara explained what energy signature he should be looking for, he tapped into the Emeralds and used Chaos Control to force a portal open. The air snapped and crackled in a familiar way to those exposed to it before as a large, swirling purple portal opened before them.

Sonic gave a whistle of amusement while Shadow stepped back to let the others through. Itara stared at it and gave a light, contented sigh at the idea of finally going home. Hopefully her confusion about which one was ‘home’ cleared up once she was there. Zero studied the portal for a moment before moving forward towards it, tossing a look back to the jackal that would be following them.

“We ought to stay physically connected during travel,” Itara suggested, “It’s easy to get separated in the strands of time.”

Zero shot her a quick scowl, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t already heard before and reached back with his free arm to grab Infinite by the back of the neck. There was a short round of ‘goodbyes’ from the remaining group while Infinite struggled against Zero’s grasp, unsuccessfully. The towering robot was a good bit stronger than all of them. Itara did her best to wave back towards the group with her one good arm, getting her backpack from Tails and situated on her back again, while Zero only nodded and continued forward. The sooner they got this taken care of, the sooner he could go home and be done with all this. He was still a bit miffed with X for convincing him to go this far in the first place.

He stepped through the portal, with jackal and hedgehog in-tow, and was immediately caught back up in the whipping streams of the between-worlds. Though Infinite was only caught in awe of the jerking movements, Itara seemed to struggle again. She jerked in his arm and shut her eye tight, though he thought perhaps it was a battle to head them in the correct direction. Not that he could ask here. The only sound that carried in the strange strands of ethereal darkness were the whipping and crackling of the streams. Though the longer they stayed inside, the worse the hedgehog got. Her jerking turned to spasms and before he could assess the situation further, the air around them cracked and snapped violently. A bright, sizzling glow emanated from the time traveler’s scar and he had only enough time to see her eyes snap open, glowing white with her scars, before the glow consumed them all, blinding even him.

When the glow had retreated and his vision cleared, Zero felt solid ground under his feet and gravity dropped around him. He checked his systems first to make sure he was still intact, satisfied when no real damage was done during the exit, but that was all he had time for before a furious presence was on top of him. He barely registered the weight on either arm and the encompassing heat before the raging, red echidna was threatening to pummel him already.

“WHAT HAPPENED?!”

Zero took a step back to put distance between himself and the other robot, spotting the third before long as he sped over the horizon, unsure whether he was satisfied to see they had returned to the correct world or not. He knew the state of the time traveler would infuriate the other robots upon their return, but he had at least hoped they would have time before meeting with them again. That didn’t seem to be the case. Instead, he shifted his focus to the world around them. It looked wholly unchanged from when they first left, another detail Zero wasn’t sure how he should feel about. At least it hadn’t gotten worse, but it didn’t look better, either. How long had they been gone?

The other bot reached them, already sparking and ready to fight and demanding answers, but Zero chose to ignore him for a moment longer, as well. They didn’t appear in the same location they left. It was a long stretch of burnt meadow with no sign of the forest from before but there were equally no signs of buildings, either. Finally, he turned his attention to the other robots, mostly because they looked ready to explode if he continued to ignore them. As tempting as a fight was, he knew that would only delay the point of his extended travel.

“How long have we been gone?”

“Six months,” RK growled, “What did you do?!”

Zero glanced down at the hedgehog still in his arms, finally noting that she’d passed out and thus explained why _she_ wasn’t responding to the other bots the entire time. When he looked back up, however, the expression on the other two had only darkened. “As if I’d injure your child. I can explain everything that happened, but perhaps it’s best done back at the base.”

RK moved to take the hedgehog girl from his arms, Zero happily letting him do so. “What is _that_?” Metal questioned, motioning towards the barely conscious jackal in his other hand.

Zero moved the jackal forward and dropped him again between the three of them, jolting him awake, “The purpose of this entire adventure, apparently. The gem in his chest is the power source the time traveler was chasing.” He watched with no uncertain amusement as the jackal shook back to attention and looked around in horror at the towering robots and the obvious lack of escape, “I suggest watching him closely, though. He’s violent.”

“Then why bring the whole thing?” Metal scoffed, eyeing the jackal between them as he went on an immediate defensive. “If the gem is what we want, why not simply remove it?”

“Itara has informed me that the option is still viable, should it come to that. But she seems to think simply having him use it will be easier on us. I can explain in full, but it’s better done back at base.”

The two mobian robots exchanged glances before looking back to him. Metal crossed his arms and looked away again, but RK sighed and explained, “About that…,” with a heavy disdain he continued, “our base collapsed. We’ve had to relocate to the _other one_ for the time being. We avoid returning as much as possible but… well.” Zero considered this for a moment before shrugging. At this point, he no longer cared who else was around so long as _something_ was being done to fix this whole God problem. With another short argument regarding the well-being of the unconscious time traveler, he grabbed Infinite again and followed the two bots back to the base where Sonic and company were set up.

The run back to the base revealed – to Infinite for the first time – the continued destruction of the world they landed in. Despite Zero’s initial judgement that nothing had changed since they left, he realized soon enough that he’d been wrong. During the run back, the two bots took them through charred fields, the flattened city of Soleanna, and a wasteland of sinkholes. That hadn’t changed. However, what was new was the occasional appearance of one of the many monsters, only for them to immediately deform and melt away. The sky was still consumed in fire, but every so often it would flash to a jet black and return again. Even the terrain, itself, no longer matched the maps Zero had regarding the area. There were cliffs where there were once dried lakes, fields instead of a suburb, and even the location of one of Robotnik’s long-destroyed bases had vanished entirely. Zero wasn’t sure if it was caused by the ongoing battle, if the fight had simply destroyed the land _that_ badly, or if it was something else, but he would wait until they were safely inside before he questioned it.

Finally, the much more heavily fortified base appeared on the horizon and Zero studied it cautiously as soon as it did. The walls were thicker, higher, and covered in all manner of scar and dent. As if the base had been the focus of an ambush. He didn’t entirely doubt that was the case. Once they reached the outer wall and the three slowed to a walk, RK buzzed the occupants through the communicator and the gate slid away and allowed them through. Zero took careful notes on the changes as they walked through the training field and into the main base. The signs of ambush continued inside. The walls were scratched and heavily dented, with obvious signs of firepower in the front hall. Had there been a siege?

As they reached the door to the main computer room, RK hesitated, though only a moment before Metal pushed the door back and they entered. Just as when they left, just like the headquarters of the Resistance in the other world, the room was busy with activity. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were all present and stopped to look up at the approaching robots. Shadow, luckily, was nowhere to be seen, neither were Rouge nor Omega, but Mira was fidgeting with the computer and, to his utter horror, the human woman, Lynda, sat on a box nearby.

But the absolute worst presence of all, that nearly sent Zero into an immediate rage, was the infuriatingly familiar black and blue robot standing, staring off, at the back of the room. The silver-haired smartass hadn’t noticed their appearance just yet and Zero had half a mind to make his presence known by cramming a fist directly into the other bot’s face. However, he resisted for a moment and looked back to the fox that spoke up first.

“You’re… back?” Tails questioned as soon as he caught sight of the robot they obviously never expected to see again, grabbing Mira and Lynda’s attention. Lynda jumped to her feet, but her attention was immediately on RK, while Mira looked over in horror at Itara. It seemed, much as they suggested, it had been a while since even RK and Metal had returned to this base.

“Now who’s this?” Knuckles demanded, looking towards Infinite, who had been shockingly silent the entire way over.

Zero, once again, dropped the jackal and, with a quick glance towards the other robot, looked around the room and began, “There’s a lot to explain but _this_ is your key to defeating the Gods, according to the time traveler. But before I get into the rest,” he scowled back to Dynamo, who finally seemed to realize there were new voices present, “What is _he_ doing here?”

The rest of the room looked back to the other towering robot with uncertainty while he shook his head to zone into the conversation. As soon as he recognized Zero, he jumped to attention and held his hands up, “I don’t know! I just ended up here!” Though his expression only grew more horrified when he recognized the hedgehog girl that nearly destroyed him, “ _She’s_ here, too?!”

RK turned to him with a suspicious glare while Zero scowled, remaining silent. Sonic jumped into the conversation, trying to break the tension, “He showed up about a week ago, when everything started getting weird. But you guys can hash out your beef later, what do you mean this guy is the key?”

Zero’s eyes narrowed in warning to Dynamo before sighing heavily and figuring he ought to focus on the issue at hand. “I didn’t expect to be back again, but it seems I’m here until this is solved.” For the most part, the group disregarded his continued presence and instead turned all eyes to the jackal with the strange gem as he, as well, took the situation in. It seemed no one, aside from the human woman, was outright hopeful about the appearance of their apparent answer. There was as much suspicion as there was curiosity, even the ever-annoyingly-positive Sonic looked apprehensive about the newest addition, though Infinite wasn’t helping that with his own off-putting stance. Not that Zero couldn’t relate, of course.

But the attention shifted off the scowling jackal soon enough as Mira drew it to the badly injured time traveler in RK’s arms. She was still unconscious, but breathing, so Zero knew she would be fine. However, the scars had burnt matching lines through the bandages, putting the full reach of the damage on full display. Zero realized he would, unfortunately, be the one left to explain everything unless she happened to wake up that minute. When that didn’t seem to be the case, he sighed and looked for a chair to sit down and begin the long, tiring explanation. Though he couldn’t help but wonder how the jackal would fare once the robots realized that _he’d_ been the one to put the hedgehog girl in the state she currently was. It wasn’t the distrust of the group, as a whole, that he imagined would be the worst. It would be the fury of the Momma Bear that would truly test the jackal’s will to survive.

~~~

It didn’t take long after Zero finished his explanation of the past few weeks of events for RK to free a hand and wrap it firmly around the jackal’s neck. Despite the time traveler insisting that they needed the Phantom Ruby user intact, Zero made no movement to stop the infuriated echidna, either. They could still use the ruby without him, it didn’t matter, either way. However, while RK busied himself with terrifying the newcomer, Metal Sonic’s attention was firmly on Zero, with hardly any kinder an expression.

“What did I say?” the blue bot threatened, causing the bystanders to grow confused about which robot to try and stop.

Zero only stared up at him from his seat with crossed arms, “I told you I would do my best to return your child. I’ve returned her.”

“I said safe and in one piece!”

“Considering the threats we faced and her penchant for trouble, you ought to be grateful she returned _alive_.”

Apparently, that was the wrong answer.

Zero was out of the seat and reaching for his saber seconds before Metal’s claw tore through it. He took several steps back to put distance between them, preparing for the next attack. Metal was smaller and more lightweight, but he made up for it plenty with speed. In such a compact space, Zero doubted he could avoid the sparking arm without destroying vital computers.

“Hey, hey! Everyone calm down!” Sonic panicked, though was careful about getting between either robot and their focus. “We’re all on the same team for the time being, we shouldn’t be wasting energy fighting, right?” His plea fell on purposely muted volumes, however, as none of the three robots backed down. He turned to Tails and Knuckles with concern but they only shrugged in response, though Knuckles suggested just taking them all out once and for all. Sonic shook his head and turned, instead, to the robot that had been there for a week but even he looked reluctant to get in the middle of whatever was going on.

Before a full fight could break out, however, Mira – who had taken over caring for Itara while RK threatened Infinite – moved back into view to talk RK down. “Look, as equally furious as I am with Itara’s state, we don’t have the luxury of a fight at the moment. If she went to the trouble to bring him here, we have to trust she knew what she was doing.” RK’s expression hardly changed, though. He’d long since learned not to trust Itara’s every instinct. “If this Phantom Ruby is what we need to fight the Gods, then that’s what we should be focusing on. If he makes things difficult later, _then_ you can pummel him. There’s no shortage of threats to his life at the moment, I’m sure he’ll _very much want_ to behave. But for now, we should focus on the bigger problem.”

RK remained silent for several long moments, but finally – with a heavy, frustrated sigh – released the jackal, though not without a final warning, “Consider yourself lucky.” While Infinite fought to get air back into his lungs, RK turned back towards Metal and Zero and grabbed Metal by the non-zapping arm, “ _Not now_.” Metal nearly toppled at the pull, but caught his balance easily enough and scowled back at RK, arguing with the furious echidna that not even Sonic wanted to test right now. RK put an end to the argument when he tossed the blue bot across the room into a pile of crates, barely missing the clearly on-edge Dynamo. Zero stood down much quicker and threw his hands up when the raging bot turned his way to make it clear he had no intention of furthering the fight. With that handled, and Metal shaking his head clear across the room, RK turned his attention back to Mira and Itara. “We should get her laid down and looked at.” Mira nodded in agreement, tossing a wary look towards Metal Sonic, before leading the way out of the meeting room.

The remaining occupants watched in tense silence as the still-furious Metal Sonic took off after them, shouting at RK, until the noise disappeared down the hallway. Infinite sat in horrified silence on the floor where he was left, while Zero returned to the chair Metal halved. Now where was he supposed to sit? With a sigh, he turned to lean against a nearby wall and eyed the focus of the argument. No wonder Itara was so nonchalant about bringing him back. He’d been underestimating the robots’ protective natures. Somehow.

“Okay. Well,” Sonic breathed once the air seemed to dissipate a bit. He looked between the remaining robots and their newest addition. Of course, the story about this Infinite character and his own apparent defeat was off-putting, but after dealing with the raging Gods for eight years, an unpowered gem didn’t seem like much of a big deal. Especially with the recently returned memories of Mephiles. “Man, I will never get used to the idea of Metal Sonic being so weirdly protective.” Knuckles grumbled unintelligibly beside him, getting a slight smirk from the hero hedgehog. At least Metal Sonic was still characteristically antagonistic. Metal Knuckles’ entire demeanor was baffling.

Before they could return to the issues at hand, however, a low, echoey laugh filled the room as the wall-sized computer screen suddenly filled with a hissing static. All eyes turned to the screen as Tails moved to the console to try and fix it, though the laughter caused a shiver to run down his back. But as Tails struggled with the controls, a blurry orange figure emerged from the static, along with a strange red glow.

“What?”

Ears flattened as a splitting screech emanated from the screen before it cut to black and the power around the room clacked out with a loud _zap_. The laughter stopped with it. But the silence was brief as the static returned and a large, orange, matted fox with massive, swirling black eyes, several rows of fangs, and two paws with several elongated claws jutting out appeared and jumped out from the screen. Tails screamed in horror as he clamored away from the screen while Sonic and Knuckles jumped back, going on the defensive. Infinite jerked at the appearance, Dynamo looked as though he could hardly take any more, but Zero simply watched with disinterest. He already knew the doll. Though he’d never interacted with it while it was still active, he’d seen Itara carry it around plenty.

Kipper burst into a fit of laughter as he floated above the console, doubling over as he pointed at the terrified, shaking Tails, scrambling to get back over to Sonic. Though the gem protruding from his head was heavily damaged, the two-tailed fox doll showed no sign of struggle to maintain form, as Zero would have expected. Finally, the doll seemed to get his fill of laughing at his own organic counterpart and turned towards the others, grinning widely at Zero and Infinite. “You lucked out, ponytail,” the ghost doll sneered before floating over to the jackal and circling around him, “You, not so much. I’m jealous, I’ve never been able to get _that_ much of a rise out of Momma Bear.” Though Infinite swiped at the doll to grab him out of the air, his hand went through the wisp of a body and caught nothing, prompting yet another chilling laugh from the amused ghost. He turned his attention back to the others and grinned, “It’s been a while! Who’s gonna fill me in on what I mi-?”

His question was cut short as the doll was suddenly jerked up by the gem to face a scowling Metal Sonic. Before he could escape, the robot ripped the gem off the antenna it was attached to with a sickening _pop_ and watched with delight as the doll went limp in his hand. “Infuriating ghost,” he hissed, ignoring the looks of confused horror from the others before turning back around and leaving the room once more, doll and separated gem in-tow.

Once again, the group sat in confused, horrified silence until Sonic released a slow breath. “I don’t know about everyone else… but I could honestly go for a nap… or a run. We can continue this once the kid wakes up but, uh,” he glanced towards Infinite, who had drained of all color, “someone… keep an eye on him, yeah?”

“I’ll be sure he causes no problems,” Zero offered.

Sonic gave a slow nod before turning to his friends and, after a short conversation about keeping him updated on things, took off at lightning speed out the door. Knuckles and Tails looked between each other, uncertain what to do with the situation, though Knuckles eventually ‘remembered’ he had some recruits to train. Tails only sighed and, after collecting himself again, turned back to the computers to return to what he was doing before everyone arrived. Zero, meanwhile, watched the goings on and turned his attention to both Infinite and Dynamo, offering a sarcastic, “Welcome to this world.”

The jackal stared up at him from where he’d hardly moved since arriving, his eyes swimming with panic and terror. He expected the worst to be the risen Gods. He hadn’t expected what he’d actually gotten himself into and was now silently wondering if staying in his own world with Shadow would have been the wiser choice, after all. Dynamo hardly looked any better. He stared at Zero in shock. The weird-eyed hedgehog girl had been terrifying enough as it was, but everything he’d seen since ending up in this world had been so much worse. If this was the world that hedgehog girl came from, X wasn’t joking when he said he had no idea what he was dealing with. Suddenly, the Maverick Hunters didn’t look so bad.


	24. Worlds Collide

The walls and ceiling crumbled under their own weight, taking with it the red robot that had nearly reached its destination. Robotic parts sparked, metal shards were strewn across the area, the light whirring of a robot powering down echoed in the empty hall, a still-attached hand reached out, hoping to pull itself free, but dropped and cracked against the pipe jutting out from the fallen piece of ceiling. All sounds and remaining lights were lost in the crashing structure.

A graveyard of inevitable mortality.

Far away, a small, green-eyed hedgehog watched from a safe distance. She watched the blue blur of a robot dart away from the collapse and the egg-shaped carrier escape in the opposite direction. She waited until the chaos ended, knowing there was another: a robot long-forgotten and newly damaged, waiting for her in the wreckage.

* * *

“What is this?” Itara questioned, turning the strange looking doll over in her hands, staring it down and studying its strange energy. She had seen several dolls in her time amongst the mortals now, but she had never seen one with such a low, malevolent energy… or any energy, really. She liked it.

“It’s... a doll,” RK explained, only able to follow her movements with his eye again as he was hooked up to the laptop and several other machines that would repair him. “I just noticed that other children often carried such things around and realized you had nothing of the sort. That I’m aware of, of course.”

Itara looked strangely between the doll and robot. She hadn’t expected him to make these kinds of efforts on his own. Between fixing the base up while she was gone and buying her a… doll… she was left a bit baffled. She hadn’t expected to get attached to the robot. He was just supposed to be a tool to distract Metal Sonic and save her in the future. She couldn’t get attached like this if she intended to succeed. To help Mephiles. To help her dad.

* * *

She blinked her eyes open, immediately seeing the terrifying doll floating just above her face and screamed, flailing in a panic. Her head was fuzzy, she couldn’t remember anything that happened and her panic only worsened when she realized there was someone holding her, catching all three of them off-guard.

Kipper only laughed, but RK had to struggle to keep her from falling while she flailed around trying to escape. It took a moment before she calmed down enough to realize who they were and glared at the doll, "KIPPER!!!"

Kipper laughed that much harder but RK sighed in relief when she finally stopped squirming. "Itara... welcome back." Back? That’s right. Solaris was whole again. But at what cost? He’d killed her. Mephiles killed her along with Sonic to achieve his goal. She looked up to RK and Kipper again, uncertain. At least she still had them. If nothing else, at least she had them.

* * *

Dropping down to her knees, her arms falling limply to her sides, she stared out at the scorched wood around her. She wished she could have at least saved something of theirs, if not them. But, then again, it was probably best she forgot about them. She shouldn’t remember them. They weren’t even her real parents, she wasn’t their daughter, she was nothing to them. But even so… even after she told Mira… even after Mira knew… he still…. She reached up, putting a hand on her head and closing her eyes.

A sudden crumble of a footstep startled her out of her thoughts as she swung around, a bit too fast and ended up falling, but stared blankly up at the tall red robot behind her. She should have known he would follow her. Well… that was fine. Sighing, she moved to get back on her feet, dusting as much of the ash off as possible as she turned away from him again.

“Itara…”

“I’m fine.” _I’m not._

She’d never been more grateful for RK’s refusal to leave her side.

* * *

Itara made another disgruntled face, but followed RK across the lab from the stairs towards the large computer and the charging stations… where the exceptionally damaged blue robot sat, staring towards the large screen running various diagnostics. Itara took an unconscious step behind RK once they reached him, for reasons she would never admit, and waited for the other robot to notice their presence. It took a minute, but eventually a glowing red eye slid over towards the larger red robot, narrowing dangerously, but not moving this time. Instead, he looked down at the smaller figure practically hiding behind RK’s legs. It took until Itara slowly glanced out from around said legs and stared up at him with wide curious, but cautious and unsure, eyes before he reacted.

“You!”

Itara jumped at the sudden fury and hid behind RK’s legs again before she even realized she was doing it. RK, on the other hand, threw up his hands in her defense, exclaiming, “calm down, Metal. She-”

“You said he didn’t remember!” Itara whined, looking up and around his side.

“He didn’t, but I-”

“I should destroy you right here and now, you little anomaly!”

“Rude! You should be grateful we didn’t just leave you a pile of scrap!”

“Why you little-!”

“Enough!” RK shouted, cutting them both off. Itara watched in horror as RK moved from in front of her. Was it really such a great idea to have repaired Metal Sonic?

* * *

He left her.

_Itara._

He wasn’t coming back.

“Itara.”

He wouldn’t-

“Itara!”

Itara’s breath was heavy and uneven and her eyes burned when she opened them again. Her chest felt tight and her ears tinged with a sharp pain when she flicked them up. Her entire body felt stiff, but it was the arms wrapped tightly around her that kept her from moving far as the world around her returned to her sight. Tall buildings, a blue sky, a warm breeze, and glowing red eyes.

A mechanical imitation of an eyebrow rose as she slowly regained her composure and spatial awareness. Turning hot in the face as recognition finally sparked, she reached up to wrap her arms around the thin neck of the confused robot. “You c-came back.”

“I told you I was just going for a run,” Metal stated, albeit slowly as he studied the tiny hedgehog. He just went for a run. He didn’t leave her. He wasn’t Mephiles. He wasn’t Solaris. Even if Solaris abandoned her, she still had Metal and RK and Kipper.

* * *

Her eyes widened and she froze.

Mira.

She knew she saved them, that had been her entire purpose for traveling back so far. But to see him again, in the present, with RK and Metal and Lynda, nearly broke her into tears. She managed to hiccup them back and hold her breath until she was sure they were gone, but when RK lowered her back to her feet so she could fully face him again, the tears burst forth unhindered. She broke down into hysterical bawls as Mira reached over and wrapped his arms tightly around her, petting her head softly, but remained silent. Even when she blubbered out apologies, he let her continue, uninterrupted, for several minutes until it became quiet whimpers. The mobian parents she’d gone so far back for, that she’d gotten stuck in the past for. They were still alive, and they made it. They got to the base.

* * *

Images and scenes played out in an endless stream of short bursts. Her head felt like it was splitting, but as the interactions between her and Solaris, RK, Metal, Kipper, and even the hedgehog parents and her schoolmates rapid-fired, the timelines – her timelines – set themselves straight in her head again. She remembered which RK was hers. She remembered her creation, the original timeline she suffered through, her death at Mephiles’ hands, and her statements to Solaris. She remembered where she belonged. But with the straightening of her own world, came the straightening of the others, as well. She realized the connection. As the images finally filtered back out and the stabbing pain in her head became a fuzzy numbness, she wanted nothing more than to be with everyone again.

She wanted so badly to be back with RK that, as she slowly regained consciousness again, she could almost see him in front of her already. The long, red and white dreads, the one, glowing green eye, the eyepatch over the broken glass, the tuft of white fur on his chest. And it wasn’t just him. But Mira’s smooth, teal quills, pulled back in a long ponytail and his bright orange eyes. She could see them both and as she slowly regained consciousness, she reached out for them both. She didn’t even realize one arm wasn’t moving. All she wanted was to know they were safe.

But it was the reciprocated touch that finally shocked her system into realizing she was no longer dreaming, that she was, in fact, awake. The blurry image of Mira was the first to grab her outstretched hand, but RK loomed close overhead. They both called her name when they realized she was looking up at them and with their call, came more clamor from behind them. Suddenly, her entire view was filled with three sets of eyes and a distant blue blur. She wasn’t sure how to respond.

Her entire body filled with relief, panic, uncertainty, fear, joy. She shook violently as her vision blurred further, her fur suddenly matted with the spilling tears. She wasn’t sure if any of the words in her head were making it to them, she had a feeling they came off as nothing more than incoherent blubbers, but she didn’t care, either. She clung to Mira the second he was within her grasp, missing the looks of concern between him and RK as she mumbled and blubbered in his arms. The sharp pain and blazing heat in her right side went all but ignored but it was her inability to grab both Mira and RK at the same time that finally quieted her bawling.

Mira moved to sit on the bed, pulling her into his lap and kept his arms wrapped tightly around her as she cried the overwhelming emotions out, casting long glances to the equally concerned robot hovering above them. It was several long minutes until Itara finally quieted down enough to take Mira’s suggestion of deep breaths, but once she did, she nearly collapsed into his shoulder. RK looked no less concerned, but waited quietly until she was ready to talk. Once her breathing returned mostly to normal and she reached up with her one good arm to wipe the tears away, Mira leaned back enough to try and get within her view again.

“Are you going to be alright?” he questioned softly, running a hand over her head.

She gave a vague nod and took another deep breath to calm herself down further. Once she was more in control of her voice, she moved as much as possible to look up at RK. She nearly broke down into tears again as soon as she saw his comforting gaze but took several deep breaths to calm it again. They didn’t have time for her blubbering. With another deep breath, she glanced around the room. Mira and RK were the closest, but Kelly was shifting from foot-to-foot nearby, watching with wide eyes, and even Metal Sonic was present, leaning against a far wall with his arms crossed. Despite his attempt at a relaxed posture, even he was watching her intently.

A small smile broke out on her face as she closed her eyes again to regain whatever composure she could. She was back home. She was with RK and Metal and Mira and Kelly again. She found what she was looking for. She could save everyone after all. She reached up to rub her eyes, though winced when she rubbed the injured one. Slowly, her gaze went back up to RK and Metal. She had missed them so much. “RK… Sparky…” she stammered, reaching up to rub her eyes again.

“Child, I don’t know how many times I’ve told you not to call me that,” Metal stated, though with none of the usual frustration, causing Itara to smile again.

“We’re glad you’re back, Itara,” RK interrupted, “But what _happened_? Zero explained the fight with Infinite, but why did it cause… _this_?” He motioned towards the scars and Itara’s smile faded again.

“It…,” she looked down to study the bandages, realizing they were hiding nothing anymore. “I think I should explain this to everyone.” She looked up again and while Mira watched her with uncertainty, RK eventually nodded.

Infinite realized, perhaps far too late, that what he’d already experienced so far was, in fact, _not_ the worst this world had to offer. As he recollected himself in the main console room under the careful watch of the sharp-eyed robot – and he’d finally processed everything he’d seen and heard thus far – thinking he could handle the rest in comparison, it only got worse. The occasional shaking of the base due to, according to Tails, Dark Gaia’s movements was one thing. The idea that the robots would likely tear him to shreds (given the opportunity) was another. But what finally pushed the jackal over the edge about being tricked into following that demented child into this broken world was the appearance of the hedgehog he had specifically tried to avoid by following her here.

He’d finally moved off the floor and onto one of the crates they had piled up in the room, one that hadn’t been broken by Metal Sonic’s impact, and was staring out, processing everything, when another set of steps approached. Of course, he went immediately on the defensive, uncertain if it would be one of the robots gunning for his imminent destruction, but when the door slid open and it wasn’t either robot, he almost breathed a sigh of relief. Almost.

The one who actually appeared was so much worse. The black and red hedgehog, along with that bat and the _other_ massive, destructive robot known as E-123 Omega, strolled through with the heat of the outside world rolling off them. Shadow looked angry as ever, but it was the sigh of frustration from the bat that put the others on edge. Infinite felt his stomach flip as he watched the coming interaction.

“Tails. Where’s Sonic?” Shadow demanded immediately, ignoring the others.

“He went out for a run, we…,” Tail started, but trailed off when Shadow’s eyes scanned over the room and fell on the jackal at the back before returning to the fox with narrowed eyes. Tails frowned, but explained, “That time traveler came back. With the robot and… _him_. According to them, the gem he has is the power source she insists will solve all this.” He shook his head and sighed, deciding to leave the rest of the story out.

Shadow’s expression darkened at the mention of the time traveler but shook his head and growled, “So then why is Sonic out running around when we finally have what we need to defeat the Gods?”

“I think he just needed some air but he’s got his communicator. He told me to let him know when the time traveler woke up. She was unconscious when they arrived. She was also… pretty badly hurt, from the sounds of it.” Shadow only bristled further until Rouge walked over and calmed him down again. “What happened out there?”

“Things keep changing,” Rouge explained with a look of confusion, “We thought we were on our way to Spagonia to look for Light Gaia, but for the life of us we couldn’t find it. Even with the maps. Nothing is where it should be.”

Tails’ brow furrowed as he turned his attention back to the computer, but the news caught Zero’s attention as he looked over, “I thought the landscape was different. Has this been happening the entire time?”

The group looked back at him as Rouge explained, “No, this just started about a week ago. Up until last week it was all the same as it’d been for the past eight years. But all of a sudden… something changed. The monsters can’t seem to hold their forms, buildings changed locations, now entire cities are disappearing. Not to mention the sky….” She trailed off and Zero nodded. He’d noticed the sky on the way in, as well. But what was the cause?

“Is it the Gods causing this somehow?”

“If it is, it sure is delayed… and sudden,” Tails responded, opening the various camera feeds on the outside of the base. “It’d mean something changed with the fight, right? It’s almost as if…”

“The fabric of reality is breaking down.”

All heads turned to the sudden addition, the robots reappearing with the awakened time traveler, the now quiet doll back in her arms.

Shadow’s scowl darkened as he turned to face her, “What do you mean?”

Itara looked around the room, her eyes falling on Infinite, “It’s not just this world anymore. It’s not even just time. It’s _reality_ that’s breaking down.” The others watched the tiny, on-edge hedgehog with caution. She’d removed the bandages that once hid the web of scars that covered the entire right side of her body, only keeping the one that went over her eye, though the hints of faded red could be seen at the edges. Even the robots watched her with uncertainty, Metal Sonic’s eyes narrowed in suspicion at her words.

She looked around, frowning, “It’s no longer a matter of just our world being torn apart. _Thousands_ of worlds, every universe with a remaining Genesis Portal will begin to converge, all into one. The multiverse is collapsing once more.” She turned to Zero, adding, “My world, Infinite’s, not even your world is safe. This goes beyond the Gods. I’ve had a sneaking suspicion, since we left your world, that there was more to this than Solaris’ awakening or the Phantom Ruby. I was right. This was started years ago, long before Solaris, before Mephiles, _before the flame was corrupted_. This was all started by Robotnik in a world, in a timeline, long since _gone_. But the effects are still there. Every world that was affected in the past and every branching path that’s been created since will break down. Fiber by fiber. Strand by strand. Until everything is gone.”

The panic in her voice grew as the occupants sat in silence, taking in what she said. Horror and panic spread, uncomfortable expressions were exchanged, until Shadow shook his head and scowled over at her. His advancement was stopped short by RK, but his gaze never dropped from the time traveler.

“How do you know any of this? What is a Genesis Portal?”

Itara stared over at him, “The same way I know everything. I’m part of a God.” Her answer did little to quell the hedgehog’s mood. However, before she could explain more, Infinite finally seemed to find his lost voice again and jumped off the crate he’d been curled up on to stalk over to the little girl in the arms of the robot that nearly strangled him. He lost a bit of steam when RK noticed him and shot him a warning glare, but kept his sights on the still barely functional time traveler, who looked over at him with the same blank stare.

“You tricked me,” he fumed, grabbing the attention of the others. Itara only tilted her head in response. “You tricked me into following you. You said you could give me power, not drag me to a death sentence!”

Shadow scoffed, crossing his arms, “First time with time travelers?”

Itara glared over at Shadow before looking at Infinite again, studying him before shaking her head. “I never lied. I can still give you the power you seek.”

“How?! This world is falling apart! There won’t be anything _left_ before long! And you said I could escape Shadow!”

“I said you could escape _your_ Shadow,” Itara corrected, getting a side-eyed glance from both RK and Shadow. “This one’s… well, I won’t say ‘mine’, I don’t want him. But my world’s. Give him no reason to and he won’t hate you any more than he already hates everyone.”

“Why am I the topic of conversation right now?” Shadow growled, turning back to study the jackal.

Both Itara and Infinite glanced warily at the black and red hedgehog before Itara shook her head and stated, “Same reason as always. You’re a pain.” Admittedly, one of the reasons she’d wanted Infinite to come instead of taking the Phantom Ruby, on its own, was because she knew the one most likely to be able to use it was Shadow, rather than her. Despite what she’d told him, they didn’t have time for her to figure out how to use it and she didn’t want to give that kind of power to someone who already wanted to get rid of her. She decided it best to change the subject and looked back to Infinite, “The point is, everything I said was true. Help me deal with this situation and I can help you with the Phantom Ruby. As for Shadow, trust me when I say we’ll both be avoiding him as much as possible once this is done and over with. I wasn’t lying when I said we have similar pasts.”

Infinite narrowed his eyes but Shadow cut in again before he could respond, “Don’t think you’re going to get away from me so easily again, either. Once this is taken care of, you’re going down with that Sun God father of yours.”

Itara scowled over at him, but the threat caught RK’s attention, “Over my broken, decayed chassis.”

Shadow only grinned at the challenge, “It’d be my pleasure.”

Luckily, before the fight could escalate, Sonic and Knuckles returned – with Amy and Espio in-tow. Sonic questioned them about what was going on and Tails offered to catch them all up in hopes that it would deescalate the situation. While they did so, RK turned a warning glare to Infinite, who rather reluctantly backed off. Itara, meanwhile, glanced around the strangely full room to catch up on who was still alive and stopped on the silver-haired robot at the back of the room, recognizing him immediately.

“Why are YOU here?!” she hissed, pulling everyone’s attention back to her, including the robot in question.

Sonic looked between Itara, Dynamo, and the otherwise silent Zero, settling on Dynamo, “Man, you’re weirdly popular for a guy who only showed up a week ago.”

Dynamo immediately went on the defensive with all the attention on him, “Hey, I have nothing to do with any of _this_. I just wanted Nightmare Souls.”

“And where has that gotten you now?” Zero chided.

“RK, punch him! He lied to me!” Itara snapped, though only got a side-eyed glance from the echidna.

“I’ve been looking for a decent fight,” Metal offered, his arm sparking up again.

“Hey-hey-hey! Whoa!” Sonic jumped in, looking around between all the on-edge robots in the small, packed room. “Deal with that later. We have bigger problems. Or at least do it _outside_.”

“Better idea,” Shadow snapped, turning his attention back to Itara, “Give us a proper explanation. What’s so powerful about this Phantom Ruby, why did you bring someone like the jackal back here, and _what did you mean earlier?_ ”

Itara huffed angrily at Dynamo for a couple extra minutes while RK waved Metal down. Eventually, Itara shifted to look around at everyone, studying each of their faces and debated exactly where to start before sighing in frustration. “I suppose the explanation about Infinite is more vital,” she began, looking to Shadow specifically, “In the world Infinite comes from, you never took the scepter back from Robotnik. Mephiles was never released. And Iblis more properly merged with the princess of Soleanna, so he could no longer be released, either. While that meant Crisis City never came to be in their world, the event never even started, their Solaris never came to be again, it also meant Robotnik had much, much longer to make use of Mephiles’ power.” She turned to Infinite and continued, “The Phantom Ruby is the culmination of Robotnik’s experiments on the scepter. It’s a controllable form of Mephiles. It’s what he created instead of me.”

The room fell to a dead silence as Infinite looked to the gem in his chest, though the silence was quickly shattered by Shadow, “You brought _another_ Mephiles back?!”

“Technically, yes,” Itara answered, seemingly unphased by Shadow’s rage, “and the fact that the Phantom Ruby is a vessel for Mephiles’ power is the reason I’m in the state I am. When our powers interacted directly, it caused a paradox. Infinite got off easier because he’s technically a separate entity. The Ruby and I, however, were both badly damaged. It,” she looked up in thought, trying to explain it in simple terms, and caught sight of Metal standing nearby, “It’s basically caused a short in our circuitry. Every time I try to use my powers, it causes a backlash.” Metal caught the hint easily enough and raised a brow at the parallel. “But before you jump on me about being useless,” she hissed, scowling at Shadow, “I just need time to recoup. With the direct influence of Solaris’ energies, my powers are already in the process of realigning. The same should be happening with the Ruby. Bringing it back here was the only way to get it to work again at all, since their Solaris is permanently separated.”

“Wait, I’m confused,” Sonic admitted, looking between the two, “Why would another Mephiles be the saving grace to this situation? Wouldn’t that just make everything worse?”

“Without my direct influence, yes. Very much so. Infinite is incredibly powerful, when the Phantom Ruby is active. He defeated you in their world,” Itara started, adding with a hint of amusement, “It seems it’s your fate to fall to Mephiles, Sonic. No matter the world.” The blue hedgehog looked exactly as perturbed by the idea as she expected while the others shot her several glares on his behalf. She found it entertaining to a degree, but decided to quell their concerns instead of making it worse. “But, luckily for you, as powerful as Infinite is, the Phantom Ruby is in shutdown at the moment and my power will recover much quicker and I have no intention to let _anyone_ , Solaris nor Infinite, ruin what I’ve worked so hard to achieve here.”

“So how was it worth all this trouble, then? It just sounds like you broke our apparent answer,” Shadow growled.

“Don’t you start on me about that, Zero already got mad at me for it!” She snapped, but huffed and explained, “Like I _said_ , we just need time to recoup. Though, that’s where a new problem lies. We may have less time than I initially expected.” Her response did nothing to reassure Shadow and only gained her more suspicion from the others. She glanced towards the camera feeds on the computer screen, studying the continuously shifting outside world, her lips pursed tightly. With a heavy sigh, she turned back and explained, “This world is going to break down completely before long. It’s already started, as you’ve seen. When Infinite and I created that paradox in the other world, my abilities to see the timelines took the biggest hit. I completely lost track of this timeline or any sense of connection between events. It took me several days, with the help of my journal, to sort any of it back out because it… opened a view into many, dozens of timelines and universes. Ones I was part of, as well as those I wasn’t. I couldn’t make sense of anything I was seeing. It was all a jumbled mess.” She looked up at RK with a frown, “I couldn’t even remember which version of you was the right one.”

RK tilted his head but reached up to pat hers in an attempt to reassure her. He wasn’t sure what to say about any of this, he’d stopped trying to understand the multiple timelines ages ago but he was suddenly glad he decided to buy her a new journal.

“So what does that have to do with what’s going on here, then?” Sonic questioned, drawing Itara’s attention back to them.

“At first I didn’t think it did. I thought it was just an effect from the fight. But then we entered the portal to come home.” She went silent for a moment to stare at the ground, her eyes becoming wide and unfocused, her gaze going far beyond the floor. “The direct interaction with the time stream caused everything to reconnect and, once I woke up, I realized what happened.” She looked up again, her vision no more focused, “There was an event, long ago, that erased and rewrote the universe it started from. Two worlds crossed at the time and, though it was ultimately reversed – to a degree – the effect spanned the multiverse. Shards of Robotnik’s weapon were scattered across the universes and their branching timelines, creating thousands of echoes.” She refocused enough to turn to Zero and explain, “It’s why you were brought here. The portal you arrived in was one of those echoes. It’s a Genesis Portal and it was far from the only one.”

She looked back in time to see a visible hitch from Sonic at the name and she refocused her attention on him, curious, “Do you remember?”

All eyes turned to the blue hedgehog as he looked back and forth between the others, eventually turning away with a wince. “Ah, n-not really. Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.” Though the continued look of discomfort on his face told her otherwise. Even if he didn’t remember in detail, the concept was buried in there somewhere. Sonic was the only one who _could_ possibly remember. Sonic, and the robot he’d been with.

“So what does any of this mean for us?” Shadow spoke up, breaking Itara’s focus on Sonic. “How does this relate to the issue with the Gods?”

“The Gods are what caused the initial activation in the first place. Solaris, specifically,” Itara explained, though winced when she realized that wasn’t the entire truth. It wasn’t just Solaris. It was her, as well. Their constant warping of the timelines was what activated the portal that brought Zero here. But she decided to leave that detail out for now. “The Genesis Portals, for the most part, remained dormant in the worlds they echoed through. It required an incredible amount of fluctuations in Chaos Energy to reactivate them. It just so happens that having all three Gods awake, at one time, in one universe, was exactly that kind of fluctuation.”

“But Zero arrived long before any of the Gods awakened,” RK interrupted.

“That was a combination of the Phantom Ruby prototype that ended up in his world… and Solaris’ reset of our timeline. There was… a lot going on,” Itara admitted, “basically, when Time Gods are involved, things get… wobbly. The point is, the longer the Gods are active and battling, the further this breaking is going to reach. Every single world connected by these portals, in the past, present, or future, could potentially converge down on us. In fact, it’s already begun, and that’s what we need to prepare for next. There will be others.”

“Others?”

“Tails, do you still have the programs for reading the energy signatures we used to track the first portal?” The fox slowly nodded and reached over to pull the tracker up. Itara nodded and looked to the screen, much less surprised than the rest when it displayed several beeping locations. “While Infinite and I build our strength again, I suggest focusing on those locations. There’s no telling who – or what – may come through.”

Hushed whispers and horrified expressions focused on the map display as the occupants attempted to grasp the situation. Itara leaned back against RK, already tired of holding herself up, and pulled Kipper tighter to her. Even RK and Metal watched the screen with apprehension, but no one showed more outward concern than Sonic, who looked absolutely exhausted with everything. What Itara failed to mention was that, while she had only seen glimpses of the erased timelines, those that had been there would likely regain lost memories. And it wasn’t just Crisis City that Sonic remembered, but the ‘event’ she mentioned that created the Genesis Portals. Dr. Robotnik’s weapon. The Genesis Wave.

And Sonic wasn’t the only one, either.

Crisis City came back to them first, being their own twice-erased timeline. Wary glances were tossed towards the spawn of Mephiles, until they returned to Sonic at the memory of his fate. What little trust the group had for the tiny time traveler was quickly dissipating further and Itara noticed easily enough. What not even she realized was that their mistrust was only going to get worse before it ever got better, with the merging of the different worlds.


	25. Multiverse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang is back together... and there's more of them than ever before.

By the time Itara left the console room again, she was half-tempted to tell them all to figure everything out for themselves. Their mistrust only grew more palpable the longer they talked and by the time they agreed to meet again in the auditorium, Itara couldn’t get away from everyone fast enough. Metal, Mira, and Kelly followed after but Zero once again remained behind to keep an eye on Infinite and Dynamo. Itara collapsed into RK’s arms as they headed down the hall, dropping her head back against his shoulder with a huff.

“Alright, it’s just us, so what’s the rest of the story?” Metal demanded as soon as they were in the empty auditorium. Mira and Kelly looked back at him suspiciously but RK kept his focus on Itara as they looked for a spot to sit and wait.

“What do you mean? That was the whole story,” Itara huffed, though kept her head back and her eyes closed.

“No, there’s something you didn’t tell them,” Metal insisted while RK found some foldout chairs. “Don’t think I can’t read you by now,” the robot challenged. RK eyed him but folded one of the chairs out, eyeing Itara until he decided to simply sit down and keep her in his lap.

“Metal,” he warned, narrowing his eye.

There was a moment of silence as Metal and RK argued inwardly before Itara sighed and opened her eye to study them. She should have known they would pick up on it. “Ugh, fine,” she muttered, lifting her head again and studying the four, “But this doesn’t go beyond us.” The two bots gave her questioning stares while Mira nodded and Kelly made a ‘zipping’ motion across her mouth. Itara almost wanted to laugh at the final addition, but sighed instead, “Even with Infinite’s power, I’m not entirely sure we have enough to fix everything. The Gods were one thing, we mostly just needed to overpower Solaris somehow. But this whole,” she waved her good arm lazily, “crashing reality thing is… the Phantom Ruby has the power to essentially change reality, but it did so with the power of the Chaos Emeralds and a massive backup generator. We have neither of those. I still believe we can beat Solaris, but I don’t know what it’ll leave us with afterwards.”

“Would another reset fix it, if we convinced Solaris to reset time again?” RK questioned.

Itara shook her head, “No, not even a reset will fix this. This goes beyond time. This would…,” she stared off, debating the possibilities as her brow furrowed. “This would take all three of them, in conjunction, to fix. Solaris could straighten the timeline again, but we’d need Light Gaia to fix the physical world and Chaos – and possibly the Master Emerald – to realign the world’s energies completely. Light Gaia would be easy enough, if we could find the little cookie thief. But the other two?” She went silent and closed her eyes again, sighing and dropping her head back.

“Then we just take this one thing at a time,” Kelly stated, nodding. “We deal with the Gods first, like we intended, and then we worry about the aftermath. Who knows, maybe the Gods will realize what needs to be done and take care of it, themselves. Once we beat some sense into them. But for now, we shouldn’t get bogged down by later problems. If there’s one we can still solve, that’s what we focus on.”

Itara opened her eye again and looked over at the grinning hedgehog woman with heavy scrutiny. She made it sound much simpler than it actually was, but that was expected of Kelly. She was a lot like Sonic in ways. Just less infuriating.

“You needed to get your strength back up, didn’t you?” Kelly continued, crouching down to pet her head, grinning, “I’ve got just the cure.” Before Itara could question her, Kelly was off and out the door, leaving the perplexed time traveler behind with her equally confused robots. The only one who seemed wholly unsurprised by all of it was Mira, who only sighed and crossed his arms.

“I suggest you prepare yourself for noise,” he stated, causing a look of concern to replace Itara’s previous confusion. Before long, a veritable _army_ of footsteps stormed down the hall and, as Itara tossed a look of horror Mira’s way, the doors swung open to reveal not only Kelly, but Simon, Tobi, and Sceira all filing in behind her.

“Itara!”

“You’re back!”

“What happened?!”

Her past classmates bombarded the baffled hedgehog with a flurry of questions she couldn’t keep up with while Metal Sonic moved away from the larger group, closer to the door for easy retreat. Kelly, on the other hand, got a stern talking to from Mira for her shenanigans, but only grinned and waved it off, insisting the kids needed to catch up. RK remained firmly planted where he was but let them talk with Itara in relative peace.

Eventually, Itara waved them all down with a huff and a scowl towards Kelly. “Quiet, quiet, I can’t answer every question at the same time,” she hissed, finally getting her friends to simmer down. A bit. She gave them all a very brief, details-excluded summary of what happened since she left and a vague explanation for her injuries. She didn’t want to concern them with the details of the Phantom Ruby and Mephiles and the timelines so she only told them enough to quell their curiosity. Once she was done, they all sat back with differing expressions of shock and awe while they processed the information.

“Man… that’s intense,” Tobi breathed, the first to break the few minutes of silence after she finished. “I can’t believe you of all people went through so much trouble to save the world.” Itara flushed at the insinuation and turned away stubbornly, as much as she could, anyway. How she wished she could have crossed her arms.

“I… I only did it because I _live_ in this world. That’s all,” she stammered.

“So did you find what you were looking for, then? Did you find the thing to defeat the Gods?” Simon questioned.

“Yes.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Sceira frowned, “It sounds like you were badly hurt.”

“I’m fine.” Itara glanced back at them, then down at her scars. She’d taken the bandages off, realizing there was little point in putting new ones back on, since they would just burn through again. The only one she left on was the cloth over her eye. The entire right side of her eye was permanently the molten red of her crystal form but the iris was a nearly-white, pale green, with the burning white scar webbing all the way through. It was honestly terrifying to look at, even for her, and she didn’t imagine anyone else wanted to see it, either. “I’ll be fine,” she sighed, “I should regain use of my limbs once my energies realign. _I hope_.”

“You can’t use your limbs?”

“My entire right side is numb,” she informed them, deciding to keep her blindness in that eye out of the explanation. At least she could still see out of one eye. “But like I said, it should… come back. Theoretically. It’s not a physical injury. So, don’t worry about it.”

“Bit hard not to worry when you look like you got attacked by a giant ice spider,” Simon countered, getting an unintentional snort from Tobi before he quickly threw his hands over his mouth.

Itara glared back at him, but looked down at the scar again. She supposed it was an… apt enough description. But she shook her head again, “It’s fine. I’m fine.” As her friends muttered amongst themselves about the stories she told, she looked down at the state of her body again. She was merely _hoping_ what she said wasn’t a lie. To be honest, she didn’t actually know for sure. She was telling a lot of potential lies to a lot of people right now. This situation was entirely unprecedented and her journal had devolved into illegible scribbles all the way through, she assumed because of the crossing timelines. The future was less certain than ever before and, she imagined, not even Solaris could make complete sense of it right now.

However, as she stared down at her lap and her eye shifted to the doll wrapped up in her good arm, her eye narrowed in confusion before she looked up in thought. Her gaze slowly fell to the blue bot leaning against the wall near the door, “Metal… where is Kipper’s gem?” The question caught the attention of not just her friends, but RK, as well, who scowled at the doll. Metal had been the one to bring the doll to her earlier, so she knew he had to have been the one to remove it.

“I’m not in the mood to deal with that ghost’s nonsense in addition to everything else,” Metal stated rather flatly.

“But… he can’t….”

“I assure you, he can,” Metal corrected her, reaching into the compartment on his arm and pulling the brightly glowing, chipped red gem out. “And I refuse to listen to his snark.”

RK smirked, but Itara’s eye narrowed further. She couldn’t really argue with the sentiment, though. They didn’t need Kipper causing trouble on top of everything else and if he could reactivate again, he absolutely would cause unnecessary problems. But thinking about the doll brought up the visions she’d seen back in Zero’s world and the interaction with Dynamo again. A scowl spread across her face but her thoughts sidelined when Zero suddenly appeared through the door, Infinite in-tow.

“There’s been a reading from the portals. One of them is familiar and I intend to look into it,” he explained as all attention turned back to the towering red robot eyeing the jackal. Itara called after him to ask more questions, but he was long gone before she even got half her sentence out. She huffed in annoyance, but sighed, “If the portals are active, we need to keep on it.”

“I’ll look into it,” RK stated, standing up and moving Itara into the seat, “Metal, stay here with them.”

“What?”

‘ _Keep an eye on the jackal_.’

Metal scowled but sighed and nodded as RK moved to the door, tossing a warning glare Infinite’s way as he moved reluctantly into the room. Itara huffed again while her friends, who had been sitting on the floor around her, jumped to their feet, Simon keeping hold of Sceira’s hand, to keep a distance from the newcomer. Infinite studied the room with disinterest, attempting to ignore the robot that was still watching him as he took up his own spot against a nearby wall, his focus honing in on the injured hedgehog that got him into this mess.

“I can’t tell if you have a lot of friends, or enemies,” he commented, scanning the mobian children as Mira moved to stand directly next to Itara and Metal moved from across the room to do the same. Kelly put herself more directly between Infinite and the children in as inconspicuous a way as possible. Not that Kelly was a particularly subtle person.

“Both,” Itara responded with a half-shrug, “My closest companions are Robotnik’s most dangerous creations, I used to assist the one being to ever successfully kill Sonic, and before the reset, I wanted to destroy this world just as much as Solaris. It makes sense I wouldn’t exactly be well-liked by the resident heroes. It’s just since losing my powers that things have changed….” It was funny, when she thought about it. She never understood why Solaris would _ever_ want her to interact more with the mortals. She lamented every moment of school, every moment she couldn’t release Hell on those around her. But it turned out, it was exactly what she needed to realize Solaris was wrong. Of course, Metal and RK were debatably more important to her change of mind than the mortals, but her friends only strengthened her resolve to fix the world, rather than destroy it.

She couldn’t help but wonder if Solaris had intentionally done this all along or if his plan backfired. He said she was more important as ‘herself’ but then he also said she was only an insurance policy. What had been his intent since the reset? If she ever got the chance again, she wanted to ask him.

“I told you I came from a similar place, Infinite,” she added, “I couldn’t explain in front of the others, and quite frankly I’d rather present company didn’t think any less of me because of this, either, but I _was_ in a similar position. I lived for revenge, I turned to those with power when I had none, and I got my ass handed to me by Shadow for it.” The jackal scoffed and looked away, crossing his arms. “But, that’s also why I knew you were better off with us than staying in your world. There, you would have only been a new plaything for your Shadow. But here, I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not Infinite, but we were all once villains, broken free of Robotnik, and just trying to exist on our own.”

“You make it sound like I’m some sort of reformed bad guy,” Metal grumbled, glaring at them.

Itara only smirked in response, “Okay, we’re a couple of once-villains that are just trying to exist on our own, a ghost doll with a penchant for trouble, and Metal Sonic. Who is perpetually grumpy. Welcome to the team.”

“I’m not sure I want to join a team with a robot that wants to annihilate me,” Infinite argued, looking away again.

“First Rule of the House: don’t touch the tiny child or Momma Bear activates,” Metal explained, though his usual taunting tone was suspiciously absent. “I have seen RK do far more damage for much less. Considering what you did to said tiny child, you’re lucky to be alive.”

“And if everyone doesn’t stop calling me a _child_ I’m going to let Solaris destroy everything after all!” Itara growled, getting a grin from Metal.

“Alright, Left-Foot.” The bot only grinned wider with the screech of frustration from the tiny hedgehog, but refocused his attention on the jackal watching them suspiciously. “The point is, if you’re staying here, if you don’t want to get torn apart, don’t touch.”

Infinite glared back at the robot, studying him before stating, “Clearly.” Metal’s own eyes narrowed at the obvious insinuation but Itara sighed and shook her head. Luckily, the conversation could go no further as Metal got word from RK about the portals. It seemed there were several appearances and everyone would be brought to the auditorium once they were properly rounded up. Metal relayed the information to Itara, who nodded. However, the earliest addition appeared on his own and looked noticeably wary of the hedgehog at the center of everyone’s attention. Itara’s scowl returned as soon as she caught sight of the lying Maverick and resisted the urge to sick Metal on him, after all.

“Liar,” she hissed again once Dynamo neared.

“You’re really not going to let that go, are you?” he questioned, looking around at the group.

“No! You’re lucky my powers aren’t working or I’d _finish what I started_!”

The silver-haired robot stopped short and reached up to rub his chin, debating before shaking his head and throwing his hands up, “Look, my issue was with Zero, not you. I learned my lesson.” He looked around with visible discomfort, “This world is more messed up than ours. I’d rather just get out of your hair and get back to my world.”

Itara scoffed and looked away, “Welcome to the party. I’ve been trying to get Zero out of my fur for eight years now. Metal, feel free to punch _him_ at any point. Infinite we need, _Dynamo_ , we do _not_.”

“Noted,” Metal responded, tossing a grin towards the other robot, who eyed him back cautiously. However, before the conversation could turn violent, the clang of not one, but two steps of heavy metal boots echoed down the hallway. Itara recognized the heavy thud as definitely Zero, wondering if _he_ would finally punch Dynamo, but was unsure about the second set. He did mention one of the signatures being familiar to him. They all looked back towards the auditorium doors but as soon as they entered, Itara lit up while Dynamo shrunk back.

“X!”

The blue humanoid robot looked considerably lost as he followed Zero, giving Itara a wary smile but his expression darkened as soon as he caught sight of the other robot between them. “So this is where you disappeared to,” he glared at the backing away Dynamo. He shot him a scowl before turning back to Itara again, his expression softening again, “So… this is your home world?”

“I’m afraid so, yes,” she answered as they neared, “Though it’s worse than I left it. I’ll explain once everyone returns. But X, this is Metal Sonic, Mira, and Kelly. The jackal there is Infinite, the user of the Phantom Ruby. The gem that landed in your world was a prototype of the gem in his chest.” She looked back to the others and continued, “And this is X, he’s Zero’s partner, and much, much nicer than Zero.”

X looked around the group, studying them all in turn. He gave a cautious smile before a laugh broke at her final addition, “I’d say it’s nice to meet you but… the circumstances are a bit unfortunate, it seems. Why are we here?”

“That’ll be explained with the others, as well.”

“Others?”

“You won’t be the only one pulled into this world. I can only hope they’re all allies like you, though.” They moved towards the far side of the auditorium to wait while Itara studied the blue bot and smiled, “I’m glad you’re one of them, though. We can definitely use your help. And it’ll be a nice change from all the _attitudes_ going on around here.” Zero raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

“I’m not sure what use I can be in this situation,” X frowned, but nodded, “but I’ll do what I can.”

She nodded in agreement, but watched the concern spread across his face as he seemed to try to avoid looking at her web of scars. She figured she would ease his curiosity and explained, “It happened during the battle with Infinite. He took some _convincing_ to come back with me. But I should be fine after a bit.”

Shock flit through X’s expression before he reached up to rub his head, looking away again, “Oh, I’m… sorry to hear that.” He looked towards the jackal, who had moved several feet away from them once the attention was off him, but kept a sharp eye on them all. X studied the gem in his chest before turning back to Itara, “Were you able to determine just what kind of power the gem held?”

Itara nodded again, “It’s a very long story, but yes and, more importantly, it will potentially be exactly as useful as I’d hoped it would be.”

X nodded and there was a brief lull in the conversation as they all fell into their own thoughts, but it was soon broken again by Tobi’s sudden exclamation, “Jeez, Itara, you _really_ had an adventure, didn’t you? Just how many robots do you _know_?”

Attention turned to the loudmouthed squirrel as Itara raised an eyebrow and shook her head, “Yes. And quite a few.”

“So, you guys are robots, too, like RK and Zero?” Simon questioned, looking between Dynamo and X.

“We are, yes,” X nodded, “Though one of us is a far more trouble-causing robot,” he added with a glare towards the troublemaker in question.

“Well, it’s not like Itara _wasn’t_ a troublemaker before all this,” Sceira commented, causing the hedgehog’s face to burn and X to laugh. Itara’s face only burned brighter as Zero backed the comment up. Luckily, before she lit something on fire again, some of the others finally appeared in the auditorium. Though, Itara’s relief was short-lived as she realized who Sonic and company walked in with.

She half called-out to the hero group that she was glad they were back, but stopped short when she saw the all-too-familiar telekinetic white hedgehog and his pyrokinetic purple cat companion. The color only drained further from her face as they caught sight of her, as well, and unfortunately recognized her right away.

“You?” Silver questioned, stopping as Sonic and Knuckles looked back at him. Gazes drifted between the hedgehogs as Itara visibly winced.

“You know her?” Sonic questioned.

“She,” Silver began, though his brows furrowed in confusion, as if he were having trouble recalling after all, “She was working with… Mephiles, wasn’t she?”

“She called him her ‘father’, when we first met. In Crisis City,” Blaze clarified, her stance immediately shifting to defensive while Itara muttered and debated how to handle the situation. Infinite cast the telekinetic his own wary glance at his appearance and the conversation.

“That’s right!” Silver exclaimed, his expression clearing up, “Mephiles told us to find the Iblis Trigger to fix the future but… he lied to us.” His eyes slid over to Sonic, studying the uncomfortable hedgehog, before they returned to Itara – and the robot standing over her. “You. You told us what was really going on.” He looked around in confusion at the strange collection of mobians and robots, reaching up to rub his head, “What’s… what’s going on?”

Metal Sonic’s eyebrow raised at the accusation, suddenly glad RK wasn’t back yet when Itara tossed him an accusatory scowl before returning her attention to the others. So _that’s_ how they knew. She struggled to keep the bitterness from her tone as she all but growled, “I’ll explain everything once the others return. Try not to hurt your head too much.” The newly arrived group all tossed her a suspicious glance before Sonic and Knuckles turned their attention back to Silver and Blaze to explain in short term what they knew. Itara watched them with all her distaste plainly displayed until X grabbed her attention again.

“What was that all about?”

Itara looked up at the curious blue bot before sighing in annoyance, looking away again. “In the original timeline in this world, the parts of Solaris weren’t released properly and the half known as ‘Iblis’ destroyed the world. Soleanna came to be known as ‘Crisis City’ two-hundred years in the future. It… wasn’t all that different than where Soleanna is nowadays, to be honest.” She looked down again, her frustration fizzling out, “the other half, Mephiles, went about doing everything he could to change that outcome so they could join together properly and become Solaris again. He… manipulated a lot of people to do it, including those two and… I helped him. I stopped Sonic from putting out the flame after they defeated him the first time, I helped lead Silver and Blaze astray, and I helped him kill Sonic. None of this would have happened without my intervention in the original timeline. The flame would have been blown out and Solaris, and I, would have ceased to exist.

“And I was intent to help him again, is the worst part,” she continued, feeling her chest tighten, “Even after he killed me, even after he nearly destroyed all of time a _second_ time, even after the reset and I was left without my powers, I _still_ wanted to help him. I didn’t even know what he wanted anymore, he cut me off – and I knew it – but I was still just sitting around, waiting for him to come back, waiting for him to tell me what to do again. After everything that happened, I refused to accept that he would only bring destruction once he returned. I only…,” her voice quieted as she reached up to rub the tears that were blurring her vision, “I only finally realized that I didn’t want him around, that I didn’t want to help him, just before he appeared. I just wanted to spend _one day_ with RK and Metal and my friends at the festival, without having to worry about Solaris or Mephiles or my stupid powers… but I couldn’t even have _that_. He only came back when I didn’t want him around. He never came when I was in trouble, or when Mira and Kelly died, or when I was caught by Robotnik. He didn’t help when I was almost _killed_ by one of _his_ beasts. He only showed up when I didn’t want him to and put my friends in danger. They turned on me because of _him_. Because _he_ -.”

“Hey,” Metal interrupted, reaching up and pulling the crystallized claws off her ear again, “stop that.” She stared up at him with wide, horror-stricken eyes. She wasn’t even sure when he picked her up. “First off,” he pulled the crystallized claw in front of her, watching her zone in on them as her eyes widened further. “Second off, that’s the past. Who cares? We’ve all tried to destroy the world at some point or another. Or at least take it over.” X, and the group of eavesdropping mobians several feet away all cast him a wary, side-eyed glance which he promptly ignored, “Thirdly, you and your friends are fine, the mobian parents are alive, and we’re going to kick that annoying Sun God’s ass once and for all. The only reason anyone even remembers any of that garbage is because of all this Genesis Portal nonsense, so what does it matter what happened in reset timelines?” Itara stared up at him with a clear mental struggle, but he only finished, “And _finally_ , how many times have I told you to keep your claws out of your ears? Do you want to lose your sight _and_ hearing?!”

Itara opened her mouth to argue but closed it soon enough, letting her arm drop again once Metal released it. She stared down at the crystallized claw, then at the web of scars on the other side. She wasn’t sure how to respond. She wanted to tell Metal he was right, but she wasn’t sure. She’d never felt guilty for her past before and wasn’t sure why she was now, but it was hitting hard. Her entire chest felt like it was ready to cave under the pressure. Instead, she simply slumped into Metal’s arms and closed her eye. Her body was exhausted and her mind wasn’t feeling much better. She wanted to rest a moment before everyone else showed up.


	26. Crossover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not just their own timeline crossing in on itself...

Itara kept her eye shut and her focus off the others for the rest of the waiting period. Conversations eventually returned to the small groups as they waited, Zero spending several minutes explaining the situation between the robots and the time traveler to X, in a way that clearly frustrated Metal and his need to keep up a disinterested appearance. Meanwhile, Sonic and Knuckles got caught up on the events of the erased timeline – and future – that Silver and Blaze were from. Infinite, however, continued to keep his distance from – and study – everyone.

Shadow was the next to return, with a small, purple-furred, green-winged creature, who nearly broke Itara out of her willful silence the second she heard his voice. He explained that they finally found Light Gaia wandering near one of the portals and commented on how tiny annoyances seemed to be regularly connected to the Gods. That comment, as well, nearly broke Itara’s silence, but she only scowled at the black and red hedgehog across the room before closing her eye again.

Along with the cookie-thieving half of Gaia, Shadow also returned with a green and black fox, the one who actually appeared from the portal he was hunting down. It wasn’t anyone Itara recognized, suggesting she was likely someone far removed from her own timeline branches, and the look of utter confusion on the fox’s face said as much. At the very least, she seemed willing to help. Not even Itara was sure who all would appear from the portals so they could only be so lucky if everyone was as willing to help as X and the fox.

RK was the next to return with two more additions. The first of which was a disoriented bat girl that no one recognized, but the second was uncannily familiar to the group but shockingly so to Itara. The unfamiliar bat had black fur, wings, and shoulder-length hair pulled to the side in a messy ponytail. Dazed purple eyes focused on nothing before her and the notebook clutched in her hand was burnt around the edges but was otherwise surprisingly intact. The other one simply looked around, mumbling to himself, as RK led them both into the auditorium, casting him long, suspicious glances the entire way back to Itara’s side.

While Sonic took over the conversation with the bat, RK made a quick exit back to the other robots and Itara, who stared at the secondary addition with widened-eyes. The others in the group picked up on the overall familiarity, but Itara recognized the differences more clearly and sat in baffled confusion as he looked around the room with what could almost be described as frustration rather than bewilderment. RK took a minute to size up the new, blue robot but after a quick comparison with Zero, realized who he likely was and refocused back on Itara.

“I’ve… seen you,” she stammered, staring up at the second tall, thickly built echidna. He had the same red and white fur as her RK, but his quills faded into the white and he had black stripes down his arms and much longer tail. The whites of his eyes were actually white, but there were heavy shadows underneath. The other echidna sized her up before glancing around at the collection of robots.

“Can’t say the same. What fresh brand of hell is this?”

Itara had to take a moment to calm herself down, realizing easily enough what – or rather, who – the other echidna was and took a deep breath. “You’re an RK, aren’t you?”

“Depends who’s askin’.” Though, after a quick study of the other obvious RK and Metal Sonic, relinquished, “I can take a guess, I suppose. Yeah, I’m Arkay.”

“Oh great, _more_ Momma Bears, just what we need,” Metal muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Shut up, Metal,” Itara snapped, turning back to Arkay, “I’ll explain what’s going on as soon as the others are back but… I suppose it should be obvious, you’re in an alternate timeline.”

“Of course I am.” He sized Metal Sonic up and grinned, “Nice _ponytail_.”

Metal scowled and promptly passed Itara back over to RK so he could free his arms up, a motion that only got him an even more amused grin from the alternate Arkay, “Don’t think I won’t destroy you just because you’re an RK.”

“What is it with you and robots, Itara?” Simon rather suddenly cut in, looking around at the veritable army of alternate world robots surrounding them.

Itara sighed and shook her head “The multiverse is a wide, chaotic thing. I’d consider myself quite lucky if we only got more Metal Sonics and RKs. So long as they’re cooperative. Which I realize is ironic for badniks, but… _well_.” She’d gotten brief glances into the various worlds when the portals opened, as each new addition appeared through them, and at the very least it was helping her sort the different images in her head out further. She almost hoped, after the situation with the Gods was solved, that the portals would remain intact for a while. Some of the worlds looked interesting and she wanted to know more.

“More importantly,” RK cut in, “Silver and Blaze are here?” Itara’s gaze returned to him, frowning and nodding. “Are they this world’s Silver and Blaze?”

“Unfortunately, and they recognized me. Hopefully they don’t become a problem.”

Tails, Amy, and Espio entered the room before long, prompting Sonic to turn his attention back to the time traveler and her apparent army of robots with a wary eye. “So… is that everyone, then?” He certainly hoped so.

Itara looked back at him and around the room before mulling over the answer a moment. It wasn’t, but she wasn’t sure how long people would be appearing, either. But there was at least one more addition already on his way, so she may as well say so. “No. Not quite,” she answered, “there’s at least one more.” In a way, she was amused by the look of constant suspicion on the blue blur’s face. She had originally built her team with a very specific purpose in mind. Not only did she have her RK and Metal Sonic, but now she had Infinite, Zero, X, _and_ a second RK. A few years back, this would have made her laugh.

“Please tell me it’s not more past enemies,” Sonic sighed, getting a smirk and unintentional chuckle from Itara.

“Well….”

Sonic threw her another suspicious glare, seeming to get her point without need for an actual answer. They didn’t have long to wonder, either, as the doors to the auditorium swung open and the final addition strolled through. Sonic’s entire stance dropped and Itara’s face twisted with confusion.

“Well, this is surely something.”

The blue and white furred, red-eyed robot with glowing white claws scanned the room, a look of amusement resting on his face. The glow around his claws retracted as he shifted to one leg, one hand going to his hip, the other reaching up to flip the section of white over one eye, “A surprise party for little ol’ me? You shouldn’t have. Really. This world is an absolute wreck. You couldn’t have done this in my own world?”

Itara rolled her eyes. Sonic, however, finally seemed to snap as he threw his hands up and wheeled around to walk off, “Nope. I’m out.” All eyes darted over to the frustrated blue hedgehog as he made for the nearest exit that wasn’t the doors behind the blue robot, “Ancient Gods, I can handle. _One_ Metal Sonic, I can handle. Weird time travelers that warp reality, I can vaguely handle. But _this_?! No!”

“Sonic!” Tails called, looking between the now grinning robot and Sonic before taking off after him. “Wait!”

A number of eyebrows rose at the display. Sonic and Tails disappeared behind the stage, Tails trying to convince him to come back and that they need him, while the remaining watchers looked back to the group of robots that pushed the hero over the edge with panicked confusion. The robots turned curious eyes to the time traveler as she sighed heavily.

“Are you kidding me?” Metal questioned, keeping an eye on the alternate.

“I am… not, unfortunately,” Itara answered as the other Metal Sonic made his way over to the group for obvious answers. She knew this Metal, in a vague sort of way, she knew enough to know he usually went by ‘Ruby’, instead of Metal, at least. She’d glanced into his timeline before, on accident. He would be a handful, even more so than her own. As he approached, she looked up again and sighed, “Well, I did say I wouldn’t mind more robots.” Though she wasn’t sure how much _this one_ would cooperate. But there were more important issues to cover, now that he was here. He would be the last, at least for now.

“Someone retrieve Sonic and Tails so I can explain everything that’s happened. We’re on a time limit here. Infinite, get over here,” Itara continued as she motioned to be put down on the stage. She didn’t mind being carried when it was on people’s backs, but she was growing increasingly tired of being _held_. Besides, it was hard to command people while in someone else’s arms, even if that ‘someone’ was one of Robotnik’s most dangerous creations. Now that she thought about it, she should probably have someone keep an eye on Robotnik to ensure he didn’t make any unnecessary moves.

While RK moved towards the stage to set her down, Tails finally convinced Sonic to return to the main area, though with no less apprehension. He eyed the entire group of robots and villains he was being forced to work with, keeping an especially sharp eye on the _two_ Metal Sonics. Once he was back near Knuckles and Amy, his eyes moved to the child sitting on the stage, trying to keep herself up without the robots’ assistance. Similarly, the others all turned towards the struggling time traveler, who waved the robots away when they questioned her decision to sit on her own.

“Alright, _time traveler_ ,” Shadow hissed, tired of waiting, “Explain.”

Itara glanced towards the edgy black hedgehog before scanning the rest of the group. So far as she could tell, this was their group. She could only ‘see’ the portals once they actually opened but with Tails’ confirmation that the readings had died down for the time being, she nodded. There was a lot to explain, but she did her best to cover everything that was necessary, having Metal retrieve her journal from her backpack to check over the details. At least there were no blackened pages anymore. Her future notes were a scribbled mess but she could make certain words out and infer the meaning. She explained how and why the Gods’ awakened to those who hadn’t been there to see the end of the world. She explained what their rising caused, in terms of the portals, and the journey she and Zero went on to find Infinite and the Phantom Ruby, including a vague explanation about her obvious injuries when asked. She did, however, leave out that hers and Infinite’s powers were out of reach because of it. Given present company, she didn’t need anyone doubting her ability to fight back. She then moved on to explain what she could of the portals and how they came to be in the first place.

“A long, _long_ time ago,” she began, looking between X and Sonic, “What would eventually become our world and X and Zero’s world crossed. Robotnik and another scientist named Wily built a weapon that could change reality, itself. Similar to Infinite’s power but on a much more… permanent level. Sonic and the original Mega Man fought them but Robotnik managed to activate what he called the Genesis Wave and rewrote that reality. This world, especially, lost an entire timeline. The world recovered due to the use of Chaos Control but not everything could be recovered. But in addition to the remaining, locked memories of the past, the Genesis Wave left behind remnants called Genesis Portals. Portals that could be used to cross the multiverse, connecting – for example – our world and Zero’s.

“These portals crossed dimensions and echoes continued through the thousands of branching timelines since. Every world that’s connected here in this room, in addition to many thousands of others is because of these portals. With the Gods active and battling, it’s caused not only our reality to break down, but others as well. All of your worlds are converging down on ours right now and if we don’t stop Solaris, and soon, it’ll only get worse and reach further. And if _any_ of you consider using this opportunity to get back at Sonic or try to take over _my_ world, reconsider. Immediately. Not only will this world be nothing but particles if this continues, but only _I’m_ allowed to threaten my world. This isn’t the prime timeline: Sonic isn’t the be-all-end-all here. _I am._ ”

Sonic puffed at the insinuation, but the newer additions studied the tiny, clearly badly injured child with suspicion and amusement. However, it was Shadow who openly challenged her claim first, “You mean your _father_? I seem to recall you saying you have no power currently. I also seem to recall nearly destroying you several times.”

Itara scowled at the mention of her lack of powers. She wanted to keep that under wraps. She could feel her powers returning, slowly but steadily, but not enough to challenge Shadow. Never enough to challenge Shadow. She could, however, call his bluff and reached up with her good hand, calling on the flame and covering half her arm with fire, grinning, “I _get_ my power from Solaris, Shadow. I can do what he can. As for _you_ ,” she hissed, shaking the flame back out, scowling at a faraway wall, “Well. There’s a reason even Mephiles asked you to join him. I’ve just made the decision to join you, instead. As much as I hate you, you’re a powerful ally and the only reason this timeline still exists. I can admit that much.” Her gaze returned to the group of newer additions and continued, “So cooperate, or be dealt with. We’re looking to take down Gods, one extra mobian – or robot – with everything we have at our disposal, will be nothing. If I wanted to deal with a troublemaker, I’d give _Tails Doll_ his gem back. As it stands, we don’t have time for nonsense. This world is breaking down and anyone still in it when it does, goes with it. So I suggest you play nice or stay out of the way.”

She scanned the differing expressions around the room. Obviously the robots would be the most likely to cause trouble, but she had plenty of experience with dealing with robots. Once everyone got the point, she turned to Knuckles and continued, “In the meantime, Knuckles, I think we should bring whatever fighters you’ve got left in. We need to organize and discuss a plan. This is going to be an all-hands-on-deck situation and we’re going to need as many fighters as we can get to overcome Solaris. Sonic, I’m going to need your assistance once everyone gathers. I’m in no state to deal with too large of a crowd, this group is already bigger than I’m used to dealing with. Zero, X, keep an eye on Infinite, he’s been looking for a chance to escape while we’re distracted. We don’t have time to go chasing after him if he does and he’s crucial to the plan. And everyone present, feel free to punch the robot with the silver hair-.”

“What?!”

Itara scowled over at Dynamo again before getting back to the point, “And Blaze, if you would, there’s something I need to discuss with you, specifically. It’s about Iblis.”

With the conversation essentially deemed ‘over’ the occupants of the auditorium dispersed, going about one preparation or another, discussing the situation amongst the varying groups. Knuckles left to gather what remained of the Freedom Fighters. Shadow kept a close eye on _her_ and remained brooding nearby. X and Sonic talked amongst themselves in the far corner – though X kept a sharp eye on Dynamo, as well – while Zero stood near Infinite to make sure he couldn’t make his escape. RK and Metal, of course, remained near Itara, and the alternates stood off to the side on their own, each debating what they’d learned. Blaze and Silver made their way over to the time traveler as she silently tested her powers, to hear what she had to say.

“When did you switch sides, exactly?” Silver questioned immediately.

“Eight years ago,” Itara responded flatly before looking up, “The timeline you’re referring to is long gone. Though it looks like Crisis City right now, it’s not the same. Also, I no longer refer to Mephiles, or Solaris, as my ‘father’. Despite what Shadow said.” Her brows pulled together with uncertainty for a moment before she shook it away and looked up again. She couldn’t help but notice the quick look of surprise from RK and Metal out of the corner of her eye.

“Then what is he?”

“A threat. Plain and simple. Mephiles lied to you, he manipulated me, and he happily sacrificed us all to become Solaris again. I’ve learned my lesson. I’m no longer working with him.” It still pained her to think about. Turning against Solaris. Realizing everything she thought about it him was wrong. No. Not necessarily wrong. She knew all along. She knew exactly what Mephiles was, she was purposely ignoring it. But it didn’t hurt any less to come to terms with it. Mephiles never saw her the way she wanted him to and he never would. If she wanted to save this world, save the life she created for herself, she had to admit that. She had to admit that Mephiles was _never_ what she wanted him to be, that she was just yet another pawn he used.

With a deep breath, she looked up at Silver and Blaze again, “The point is, Blaze, _you’re_ going to be key to taking him down now. There’s a power only you hold that can keep Solaris – keep Iblis – from further destroying this world. I know you have no reason to trust me _now_ , but…” She looked out towards the rest of the room, “I really do want to help now. I won’t ask you to believe me right away, but I just need you to know, you’re just as important to fixing this as me or Infinite or Shadow.”

“What do you need me to do?” Blaze questioned, her tone far softer than Itara expected and causing her to look back at her.

She remained silent for a moment, debating how to answer, before explaining, “Seal Iblis.” Blaze’s brows furrowed as Itara continued, “I’ll explain how later, but you’re the only one who can do it. You’re more attuned to the flame, even more than me. But while I can deal with Mephiles, I’m going to need you to deal with Iblis.”

“I thought they were joined now, though?”

Itara nodded, “They are. But I intend to split him again.”

“Wait what?” RK broke in, concern spreading across his face, “Itara, what are you planning?”

“I’ll go over the details later,” she shook her head, “But I realized, the only way to truly ensure Solaris can’t wreak more destruction is to split him again.” She glanced towards Infinite and motioned to him, “There’s a lot I realized while I was in Infinite’s world, a lot about Soleanna and Solaris.” Once Zero and Infinite joined them again, she continued, “My powers are returning.” She gave a small kick of her right leg and added, “As is feeling in my leg. My arm is still out, though. Can you feel anything from the Phantom Ruby yet?”

Infinite watched her with no less suspicion and disgust than before but turned his attention to the ruby embedded in his chest. “Nothing yet,” he grumbled angrily, though didn’t meet her gaze again afterwards. Instead, he glared off towards an empty corner. “What if you were wrong? What if I followed you for nothing after all?”

“That would be inconvenient for both of us, I assure you,” Itara stated, pulling a small fire forward, “It’s just taking longer, that’s all. There’s something specific I’m going to need of you, once the time comes, that I’m incapable of. Right now, Solaris is essentially battling a two-on-one situation. Both Gaia and Chaos know what he’s trying to do and aren’t fond of it. Of course, that doesn’t mean they won’t just as happily wipe any of us out along with him, despite being on the same side. But because of that, we’re going to need to isolate Solaris to defeat him once and for all. A place outside of _time and space_ where we can separate him without him escaping.” She eyed him again, watching his gaze move warily back to her, his one visible eye narrowing.

“Null Space.” She nodded but Infinite’s gaze only darkened, “And how, exactly, am I supposed to create Null Space in the state I’m in? Even without the damage to the Phantom Ruby, it required a massive amount of energy. The one you tried to _destroy_.”

“I’ve been considering that,” Itara explained, waving the fire out again as she looked towards the others, “I have an idea… but it’s not going to be easy and… to be honest, I doubt I can trust you with that kind of power just yet. So, before I explain it to you, I’m going to need to create a failsafe or two. But in the meantime, I want you to focus on the Phantom Ruby and let me know how your powers are progressing with the knowledge that you’re going to need to create Null Space again.” She turned to Blaze again, “And I need you to consider your ability to seal Iblis if and when we succeed in separating him.”

Blaze’s brows furrowed, but Infinite only scoffed, “And what if I choose not to tell you?”

She sighed. She was getting tired of dealing with stubborn mules. And yet, her constant interaction with them meant she had experience convincing them, “Then you and I and everyone else will simply cease to be, Infinite. If you think you can simply escape back to your world somehow, think again. You’re in the exact same boat as everyone else. If my world goes, yours goes with it. Poof. Gone. No one and nothing will exist anymore. You will _never_ learn to use the Phantom Ruby’s power properly or even have a shot of overcoming Shadow again. I _may_ persist if this world goes. My body can die and my power simply returns to Solaris. The Phantom Ruby may even persist. But you? You won’t.”

She watched his body tense up with frustration before sighing and shaking her head, “Look. If we save this world, you’ll have a place to come back to. RK won’t attack if I tell him not to. Metal can’t be told what to do, but that’s just Metal. But you can go home with us and, while I usually stick to bringing home _robots_ , I’m starting to considering rebuilding the house and calling it ‘Itara’s Robotnik-Recovery Home’, we’ve taken in so many ex-Robotnik partners.” She couldn’t help but smirk a bit when Zero grumbled under his breath. “My point is, there’s a chance to recover and grow here. But only if you help us.”

Infinite watched her suspiciously but said nothing more on the subject while Silver and Blaze exchanged glances and moved off on their own to debate what she asked. Itara didn’t know if any of them would fully agree, or even really understand what she said, but she would be working to convince them further over the next few days. They couldn’t move forward with an attack until both she and Infinite were back up and running, either way. She would have time. In the meantime, she shifted her attention to Shadow, who had been watching her sharply the entire time. She debated for a short minute before sighing, “What do I have to do to convince _you_ I’m not working with Mephiles now? Aside from the fact that Mephiles no longer exists.”

Shadow’s eyes narrowed further, as the question drew Silver and Blaze’s attention, as well. “There is _nothing_ you can do to make me trust you.”

“I said nothing about trust,” Itara growled, “I simply said ‘not working with Mephiles’. I know better than to ask not-so-tall, dark, and brooding to _trust_ anyone.” She couldn’t help the smirk as she caught sight of Infinite eyeing her out of the corner of her vision for stealing his line. She couldn’t resist. It was still funny.

Shadow, however, looked considerably less amused by the poke as he scowled darkly, “Look who’s talking, shrimp. At least _Mephiles_ copied my _height_.”

“Who said I was copying _you_?!” Itara snapped, her grin disappearing immediately as their argument drew attention from around the room. “I didn’t _fabricate_ my body like he did! Mine is-!” She stopped short, though, and looked away, struggling to find a direction no one was standing in. She caught the look of discomfort from Mira nearby and winced, looking away again. “Sh-shut up. You’re stupid.” There was snickering nearby, though she couldn’t figure out who it came from and decided to ignore it. Instead, she would focus on how to get back at Shadow once they got this God thing taken care of.


	27. Change of Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itara's determination to face Solaris is put to the test one final time.

The procession of remaining Freedom Fighters was a bit of a sight for Itara and the robots. Knuckles returned with the group after an hour or so, having to find them across the base, and it was the first time it occurred to Itara that her friends had joined the fight while she was gone. It only dawned on her, when her friends excused themselves from her side to join the others, that when Simon first suggested helping out when they moved bases, he was serious. Simon, Tobi, and Sceira all joined the others, along with Sceira’s father, greeting the other Freedom Fighters in much the same way they did her. Sceira’s father was probably the oldest amongst them - aside from Knuckles and Espio - and of course, where Simon went, Lynda followed. Though she never had been and never would be a fighter. Despite her friends only being in their early teens, Itara realized Sonic hadn’t been much older, if any older at all, when he first started fighting Robotnik. For mobians, at least, it was an appropriate enough age. Humans were a different story, though.

It was also the first real impression of how much time had elapsed since the festival. Itara was so used to going in and out of time that eight years never felt that drastic. She was used to traveling more than two-hundred, after all. But seeing her friends, who had been in third (or fourth, Simon’s case) grade when she first met them, grow into their teens, hardened by the fight for survival, left a strange impact on her. Of course, she’d watched Simon the entire time, but somehow this felt different.

They’d lost so much time together.

She wondered if they could ever somehow get it back.

Knuckles gave a brief, curt instruction to the group of fighters, that barely crested a couple dozen, explaining in short what Itara had told him. Simon could barely resist waving to her when he caught her watching them, but Knuckles all too quickly grabbed his attention again and ensured they all listened to everything he had to say before they could take off again. Itara couldn’t help the laugh that escaped at Simon’s guilty face, but waited patiently for Knuckles to finish and her friends to approach again.

“So… we’re finally making a move?” Simon questioned, equally wary and excited.

“Soon,” Itara explained, though studied her small group of friends, “I didn’t realize you guys… would be with us…”

“Well, since Sceira’s dad was a Freedom Fighter way back when, it makes sense for her. But Tobi and I wanted to help, too. Besides, that was the point of coming here, wasn’t it?”

“I’m surprised your mom didn’t blow a fit about it.”

Simon’s face twisted back into a wince as he glanced back towards the human woman that was, as expected, B-lining it for the red, echidna robot, who was looking for every excuse to escape before she reached him. “Well, she wasn’t _super_ keen on it but… well… if we don’t fight, there won’t be a world left, anyway, right?”

“To be honest, my father wasn’t fond of the idea, either,” Sceira added, frowning, “He thought it would be too dangerous without my sight. But well, like Simon said, there won’t be a world if we don’t fight. Sitting back isn’t an option.”

“I just think Knuckles is cool,” Tobi grinned, though Itara could see the distant sadness in his eyes he was desperately trying to mask. Simon still had Lynda. Sceira still had her dad, even though they lost her mom. But Tobi lost both his parents the night of the festival. Itara nodded, thinking it over. That all sounded about right for a bunch of Freedom Fighters. They would do fine. “What about you, Itara?” The question caught her off-guard and looked over to them again, tilting her head slightly.

“What do you mean? What about me?”

“Well, you’ve been spearheading this entire thing,” Simon frowned, “But you’re… part of Solaris. Why are you fighting for our side? Shouldn’t you want to help him, instead?”

She scoffed and turned away. If he had asked her that eight years ago, she wouldn’t have been able to answer. If anyone had asked whose side she was on before that, it would always have been Solaris. But nowadays, it was different, “I’ve grown attached to this world, damaged as it is. I’ll never forgive the Soleanna Royal family for what they did, initially, that anger is as stuck with me as it is Solaris, and for the longest time I _was_ on his side. Like I told Infinite. But I also… realized he was… completely consumed by that hatred. He’s warped and I don’t know if he’ll ever recover.” A hint of sadness touched her expression. “In a way, I kind of feel sorry for him, he’s so blinded by that hatred. But that’s why I know he’s wrong. He split himself before, in a last-ditch effort to save humanity when they first corrupted his flame, which meant he cared at one point. But just because _some_ betrayed that care and trust, doesn’t mean everyone needs to suffer for it. Elise is gone, the last of the royal family has been wiped out. His revenge is done.”

She closed her eye and let her words sit for a minute, both for herself as well as her friends, and missed the long stares from those around her. Tobi broke the silence before long, “Man. That sounds like a lot to deal with for someone our age.”

Itara opened her eye again, narrowing it slightly, “You realize I’m literally hundreds of years old, right? I was only in your class because of my _body size_. It drew the least attention.”

“Speaking of, why _are_ you so small, Itara? You haven’t grown at all in the past eight years!” Simon exclaimed, his eyes wide and curious as always, which only got a scowl from said tiny hedgehog. She heard a snort from beside her and whipped around to scowl up at Shadow, who was still looming nearby.

“You shut up!” she hissed before turning back to her friends, “I’m not small! You’re all just too big! My power makes up for my size! Everyone shut up and get over here so we can figure this all out already!” Admittedly, she wasn’t ready to face the crowd of people just yet. She had the workings of a plan and mostly knew how to explain it, but she only got more flustered when even more eyes were on her. In her attempt to avoid her friends’ teasing, she invited more attention and nearly burst under the sudden pressure. Luckily, while her friends quietly laughed at her and the crowds around the auditorium migrated towards her, Sonic jumped up to the stage to alleviate some of the attention as he took up the mantle of addressing the group. Itara considered at least silently thanking him, but then decided against it quickly. She wasn’t going to go that far.

Instead, she closed her eye to recoup while everyone gathered and Sonic began the explanations about the general situation to those who hadn’t been present earlier. He explained that they were finally drawing near to the final battle and a vague explanation about the collapsing reality, though he didn’t make it sound as drastic to keep people from panicking too much. For the most part, they’d all agreed to keep the collapsing reality amongst themselves, but gave the others enough information to not be caught completely off-guard by the shifting terrain… and additional robots. He finished off by explaining that they would need everyone’s help to take down the Gods and that the fight would finally be coming to a close soon. They would finally be getting their world back but it would require everyone to do it.

Itara heard a few huffs of annoyance throughout his speech, likely from either Infinite, one of the _many_ robots, or Shadow. In addition to the group of Freedom Fighters, Sonic and company were equally surrounded by past and current villains, though the others would never know the full extent of that. Of course, there was still plenty of unease about Metal Sonic being present – more than one, even – but they knew the Gods were a much bigger problem at the moment. If Sonic could ignore the robots for the most part, so could they.

Afterwards, it came time for Itara to explain the plan for the final assault on the Gods. She opened her eye to look up towards Sonic once he stopped talking, wanting to keep her focus off all the eyes in front of her, and nodded when he asked if that was all. Of course, she was still sitting on the edge of the stage while Sonic had been walking anxiously back and forth beside her, meaning she was at mostly eye-level with the others. On the one hand, it meant she could only really see the first couple rows of eyes… but it also made the crowd look much larger than it actually was, with the seemingly endless sea of ears and vague body parts behind them. She had to take another quick breath to calm herself again, reminding her of the incident at the clothing shop with X. The chuckle from the look on Zero’s face finally calmed her enough to address everyone.

With a quick glance at her notebook, she searched for the group of robots towering over everyone and focused on them as she spoke.

“While all three Gods pose a threat, as they have been, our main focus here is going to be Solaris. The other two, while they have no problem sacrificing whoever happens to get between them, their main reason for rising is Solaris. The Sun God, should he come out victorious, will destroy time and space, itself, and the other two are aware of this. They’re fighting to force Solaris to back down. Unfortunately, all three of them are stubborn and because they’re all just fighting amongst themselves instead of properly teaming up, it’s been an evenly-matched, three-way-battle. Our job, from here on out, is to edge that fight against Solaris… without getting in the middle of it. They won’t think twice about wiping you out.

“Meaning we can’t just go in recklessly with a full-frontal attack. We’re still up against Gods, after all. In a normal situation, the only thing that comes close to the power of the Gods are all seven Chaos Emeralds, which everyone knows we don’t have. We’re going to have to get creative and _extremely_ tactical about this coming fight. Luckily, we have an incredible amount of power on our side, as well, so if everyone cooperates properly, there’s a good chance we can pull this off.” She not-so-subtly side-eyed Infinite and the newer robots, before returning her attention to Knuckles, holding her journal out to him, “I’ve written out my battle plans in here. I leave it to you to decide how to mobilize the Freedom Fighters. The ultimate goal is to wear Solaris down, not defeat him outright. That’s impossible. But if we can weaken him enough and then draw the other two away, Infinite and I can more easily see to his… suppression. Use the other Gods to your advantage, with Light Gaia’s help. Also, I need to discuss something… _emerald-related_ with you later.”

Knuckles took the journal to study the scribbled-out battle plans, nodding in agreement, until the final comment. He looked up again and eyed the time traveler suspiciously, narrowing his eyes, but turned back to the group of Freedom Fighters to get busy. While Knuckles separated with the fighters, the remainders grouped back up around Itara when she waved for them to do so.

“Overpowering Solaris is only going to be the first part to taking him down. It’s debatably the easiest part, compared to what needs to be done afterwards. As I mentioned, Solaris needs to be weakened, then Gaia and Chaos need to be distracted to break the fight up and, hopefully, quelled. My theory is that once Solaris is out of the picture, they’ll rage a bit longer, but ultimately return to their resting places. But Solaris… won’t. Even once we ‘defeat’ him, he’ll only rest long enough to come back again and this will all start over. The next part of the plan is to ensure he can’t do that and it’s going to require an incredibly careful movement on our part.”

However, as she went about explaining the second half to those around her, her attention shifted as her gaze zoned out in front of her. Her expression dropped as she shot RK a quick warning glance and tested the movability of her limbs. She could just barely kick her leg and her arm was still completely out of commission, though, she wouldn’t be getting far. Her sudden shift put the others on edge but their questions fell on deaf ears as Itara focused on the coming energy. She did her best to stand up, much to the surprise of the robots as RK jumped at her not to push it, but the cause of her sudden discomfort made itself apparent before much longer.

Those still shuffling about the room, as well as those gathered around the on-edge time traveler, all stopped and looked around in confusion as the room rather suddenly heated up. RK exchanged a glance with Metal and a look of concern flit across Silver and Blaze’s faces. But it was the rumbling that finally caused panic as several long, thin cracks spread across the ceiling, dropping dust down on the auditorium. However, as soon as it stopped and everyone glanced up, the room filled with a burning yellow light. Itara’s heart dropped as she stared into the light that those around her shied away from, her eye widened in horror as the figure within slowly materialized.

The light receded back into several, long, glowing ‘wings’ behind a towering, molten figure, his blazing furious green eyes centered on the horrified time traveler, all but ignoring the room full of mortals around him. Even as he strode forward to meet her, he spared no passing glance for the mobians that scrambled away from the figure they could barely see, the scalding heat of the outside world billowing off every inch of his being.

“And where, I wonder, did _you_ manage to escape to recently?” Solaris questioned as he studied the barely functional form before him. “And what did you do to yourself this time?” Though, when she took longer than he expected to answer, the glowing green eyes finally slid over the group surrounding them. The robots were the first to regain their composure, RK moving the quickest to put himself between Solaris and Itara. However, the sheer number of familiar faces surrounding them briefly caught even the Sun God off-guard, though Itara was the only one to notice. He recovered before any of it reached his face and refocused on the time traveler that slowly shook her head to regain her own composure. She was right. The breaking of reality was going beyond even the Gods. Solaris _didn’t know_.

“W-Wouldn’t you like t-to know,” she finally stated, though her voice shook more than she expected it to, getting a wide grin from the molten-fanged beast.

“I would, actually, but I suppose so long as you’re back it doesn’t much matter. You think I wouldn’t notice you suddenly disappearing from the timeline entirely?” His eyes slid towards Infinite, or rather, the Phantom Ruby, before returning to her and narrowing, “And returning with friends.”

“Iblis.”

Both Itara and Solaris looked towards the equally terrified and furious silver hedgehog, a grin breaking across Solaris’ face while Itara only frowned. “Not quite,” Solaris mused.

“Iblis is only half,” Itara muttered as she returned her attention to Solaris. Though even she had to squint against the burning glow, she studied the molten scales covering every inch of the towering, corrupted god. The bright green eyes and the long, wide, sharp fangs. Truly, he did look a lot more like Iblis than Mephiles. Then again Mephiles’ physical form was stolen from Shadow in the first place, but it saddened her in a way she likely wouldn’t ever understand to see Solaris in the state he was, knowing what had to be done to fix everything they’d done. The fact that she was just as responsible for the situation as he was only deepened that sadness. It was that heaviness which ultimately caused the words she spoke next to escape.

“Da-,” Itara stammered, but quickly snapped her mouth shut and shook her head, “Solaris… don’t you see what you’re doing? Not just to the world, but to yourself?” The question garnered her a number of strange stares, including from Solaris, himself, but she continued, “I don’t want to have to fight you. Can’t we fix this?”

Solaris’ eyes narrowed, staring the child down for several long moments, before the scheming look returned and he grinned again, “Then don’t fight me, Itara. I’ve done nothing but offer you a place by my side from the start. You’re the one that’s suddenly turned, even going so far as to work with _Shadow_ against me. The easiest way to fix this is to rejoin me. Look what your betrayal has gotten you: you hid while this world crumbled away, even with your powers back there’s nothing you can do to stop this, and now you’ve been injured and your energies have scattered. You’re broken… and only I can fix you.”

Itara’s heart only sunk further with every word, staring wide-eyed up at him. Her gaze dropped when he mentioned her injuries, staring at the scars across the right side of her body. She went silent for several long minutes to debate what he said. She knew better than to join him again, but she didn’t know how to argue, either. At least, not until his final comment. Her brows furrowed as she reached up to touch the bandages across her eye, his comment swirling circles around her head, repeating over and over.

Eventually, she looked up again, glaring, “You may have guided me when no one else could once, but I was only ever a pawn to you. Don’t pretend you suddenly care about my well-being when you intended for me to die _long_ before you killed me, yourself. In a way, I should thank you for that. If not for your intent to have me killed by Shadow, I wouldn’t have realized what I needed to survive. You’ve been defeated twice before, Solaris. Third time’s the charm.”

Solaris’ grin dropped, “Not without your Chaos Emeralds. If this is the path you’ve chosen, so be it. I’m disappointed.” With another flash of light, Solaris disappeared, his heat lingering behind. Itara’s entire stance dropped once he was gone, her head dropping along with it.

RK moved to pick her up, deciding she was done sitting on her own, while the rest of the room took the silence to process everything that was said. Even Itara remained silent but reached up to touch the bandages across her eye again as she stared off into the distance. Her chest hurt and her limbs felt heavy. She was grateful for RK picking her up, she wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be able to hold herself up as Solaris’ words drifted through her head repeatedly. She’d told him multiple times now that she didn’t intend to join him. She’d heard him reprimand her in her dreams. But hearing it out loud, in the waking world, felt much heavier than she expected. She was half tempted to chase after him and apologize. Even after everything that happened, she still didn’t want him being disappointed in her. But she couldn’t back down, either. Not after everything she’d gone through to get them this far. She was far beyond turning back.

After a seemingly indeterminate length of time, the sounds of the world crept back to her ears. Muffled whispers, the clattering and clanging of equipment, faraway commands, constant echoes and thuds of footfalls from creatures and beings of all shapes, sizes, and weights. Itara looked up at RK, who appeared to be having a heated discussion with Metal, and listened in to see what it was about. She needed something else to focus on.

“…can’t just take off. The base is in a pit.”

“There’s got to be other bases still standing _somewhere_ ,” Metal insisted.

“And what would we even do if we find one? With everything that’s going on,” RK argued.

“I don’t know, we can figure that out when we get there. I’m just tired of being _here_! We can let ponytail and his friend come, even, I’m just tired of… _them_.” He waved off in the direction of, Itara could only assume, Sonic.

“Metal.”

Itara closed her eye again before sighing heavily and opening it to look up at them, finding their attention focused on her quickly enough, “leaving right now would be pointless. We need to keep tabs on too many people.”

“I don’t see why that’s our job,” Metal hissed.

“The less wildcards messing the plan up, the better. And the sooner we strike, the better. It’s possible Solaris may change tactics after that interaction. RK and I could have just lost our ‘get out of destruction free’ card. I mean, if the world gets torn to shreds it doesn’t matter, either way, but that’s why we have to make sure we can stop the Gods first. Metal… are you still able to access your Metal Overlord form?”

Metal’s eyes narrowed suspiciously but remained silent to check before nodding, “I am. Though that takes a considerable amount of power.”

“A great many things lately do,” Itara sighed, closing her eye again. “Solaris was right about one thing. The lack of the Chaos Emeralds is a problem. But it’s a problem we’ve been ready to deal with since this all started, as well. One I’ve had plenty of time to consider a workaround for.” She took a deep breath and opened her eye again, “I need to have a _long_ , tiring conversation with a Guardian. But first, where is Infinite?”

RK shifted and motioned towards the jackal watching everything from nearby and she nodded. “We may need to move within the next couple days, which means Infinite and I need to regain our power _quickly_. But I also need to make sure he’ll cooperate in the meantime. RK, I need you to resist strangling him.” The bot’s scowl darkened at the request but she continued, “He worked so willingly with Robotnik in the other world. One of the only non-programmed allies to NOT turn against him. Though, from what I could tell, all Robotnik really promised him was power. He was a mercenary before that, so it’s safe to assume his main goal in life is… honestly not that much different than Metal’s. We should be using that to our advantage, not alienating him further.”

RK sighed heavily but Metal studied the jackal with heavy scrutiny. “A mercenary, huh?”

“Also, as counter-intuitive as this is going to sound, I’m _sure_ ,” Itara continued, holding her hand out to Metal, “We’re going to need Kipper.”

“Absolutely not,” Metal growled, turning his attention back to her, “There is no way in hell I am letting that doll run amuck again.”

“He’s useful.”

“How do you know he’ll actually be useful instead of just causing more problems?”

Itara’s face twisted into uncertainty as she debated it. Eventually, she shook her head, “Because there are bigger problems and even _he_ should know that his existence is equally at stake. While I was in Zero’s world, I had a vision about how he got damaged. I think he knows better than to get in Solaris’ way now. Besides, there are plenty of new people for him to annoy to keep him out of our fur.”

The robots remained silent to debate it, neither looking any semblance of convinced. “You’re certain?” RK questioned, looking down at her again. She nodded.

Metal looked between them but eventually sighed _heavily_ and pulled the badly chipped gem out, handing it over to the tiny child, “If he annoys me… I’m pulling it right back off and not giving it back.”

“I’m sure he’s well-aware of that by now, as well,” Itara confirmed as RK moved to grab the doll for her again so they could reattach the gem. Admittedly, Itara just missed having him to talk to, but she also had a feeling he would be useful to keep the other robots from causing problems they didn’t need. Kipper notoriously enjoyed getting under robot nerves. She would consider it an insurance policy in case any of them got on _her_ nerves too much.


End file.
